Hundreds of babies are dying needlessly every year due to delays in improving NHS maternity care, a damning new report warns.

In a new report baby charities Tommy's and Sands revealed that at least 2,500 babies could have been saved since 2018 if government targets to halve stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths had been met on time. Instead, progress has stalled - and families are paying the price.

"This is the equivalent of losing 100 primary school classrooms full of children," said Dr Robert Wilson, who leads the joint policy unit for the two charities.

In 2015, then-Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt promised to slash these tragic death rates by 2030, before moving the goalposts forward to 2025. But the charities say ministers are nowhere near hitting their own targets - and parents are still suffering avoidable heartbreak.

Stillbirth rates have only dropped from 5.1 to 3.9 per 1,000 births since 2010 - well above the promised target of 2.6. In 2023 alone, that meant 565 extra stillbirths, according to figures cited in the report. Neonatal deaths have fallen more slowly still, from 2.0 to 1.4, far from the goal of 1.0 by next year.

"These are not just numbers - these are loved babies who never got the chance to live," said Sands chief executive Clea Harmer.

The Saving Babies Lives 2025 report is calling for urgent national reform of NHS maternity and neonatal care.

And while it states babies are dying unnecessarily, the NHS is also now saddled with £58.2 billion in medical negligence liabilities-a staggering cost to taxpayers, with a huge chunk directly tied to birth injuries.

In 2023-24 alone, £2.8 billion was paid out in negligence claims, the report states, including £536 million in legal fees. Many of these payouts stemmed from cases involving catastrophic brain injuries at birth-often due to staff errors, misdiagnoses, or delays in care. Experts say these deaths and injuries are often avoidable, but repeated warnings have been ignored.

The charities are now demanding tougher new targets and full implementation of safety recommendations to avoid more needless deaths.

The news follows a Sunday Express report which revealed nearly two thirds of maternity units in England are rated as requiring improvement or worse for safety, according to the Care Quality Commission.

Health Minister Gillian Merron admitted: "It is unacceptable to know that some of these cases could have been prevented with better care."

She said a new plan would "transform" maternity care, including more midwives and action to close shocking racial health gaps.