New Bereavement Leave Rights: What Employers Need to Know

The Government has published its response to its consultation on bereavement leave, confirming new rights for employees following the loss of a loved one or a pregnancy.

Jennifer Cafferky, Associate Solicitor in our Employment Law team provides an update.

The Current Position

Presently an employee can take two weeks of parental leave where they have lost a child under the age of 18 or after 24 weeks of pregnancy. (Section 80EA Employment Rights Act 1996). This can be taken as 2 weeks continuously, or as two blocks of 1 week during the 56 weeks following the bereavement.

An employee in these circumstances can claim Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay, currently of £194.32 per week, or at 90% of their earnings, whichever is lower. This is paid by their employer, who then recovers the cost via HMRC. To qualify employees must have earnings at a minimum level, currently £129 per week, and have worked for their employer for at least 26 weeks.

This leave currently doesn’t include any other immediate family members. Employers can choose to offer compassionate leave in such circumstances, but there is no statutory right to this, or for it to be paid leave. This can result is employees taking sick leave to access space to grieve whilst receiving Statutory Sick Pay.

What’s Changing?

Section 18 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 seeks to expand entitlement to bereavement leave to include the loss of other immediate family members.

This part of the act will come into force via secondary legislation and new regulations are anticipated in April 2027, describing how bereavement leave will operate for employees.

The new leave is likely to include the loss of a: spouse, partner, parent, adult child or sibling, whilst also recognising a wider range of family relationships, such as step, half, adoptive, kinship care and foster relationships.

The reforms follow last year’s government consultation which was supported by the majority of respondents to make provisions more generous for those experiencing bereavement.

How Will it Work?

The right to bereavement leave will be available from the first day of employment, for up to 2 weeks and will be unpaid.  Employees will be able to choose to take individual days of leave, rather than one continuous period, during the 56 weeks following the bereavement.

During the first 8 weeks following a bereavement, employees will only be required to notify their employer as soon as ‘reasonably practicable’ of the leave. Additionally, employees will not be required to provide evidence of their loss.

Pregnancy loss

A significant element of the reforms is the expansion of bereavement leave to people affected by pregnancy loss before 24 weeks. Women and their partners who experience pregnancy loss before 24 weeks, will be entitled to take bereavement leave under these new rules.

The Government has indicated that this will include: miscarriage, termination and unsuccessful IVF embryo transfers. The intention is to extend this right to the partner of the pregnant women, the other biological parent and intended parents in a surrogacy arrangement.

How will this affect Employers?

Employees exercising the new statutory right will be protected from any detriment or dismissal by their employer in response to taking bereavement leave.

Employers should be mindful of the upcoming changes. Those who do not risk claims in the Employment Tribunal if they fall foul of the rules.

Preparing for the Changes

These new entitlements recognise the importance of supporting employees in a flexible way during an extremely difficult time.

Employers should ensure they understand these existing and new rights; update their policies and procedures; and provide training to their managers, so they can respond appropriately to an employee seeking bereavement leave.

If you own a business and have questions about the forthcoming changes, or require help to review your policies, please contact Jennifer in our Employment Law team on 0118 516666 or click here to send here an email.