Parental bereavement leave

The Parental Bereavement Act 2018 specifies that a ‘bereaved parent’ will be able to take statutory bereavement leave. This right applies to employees who:

• suffer a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy, or
• lose a child aged below 18.

A ‘bereaved parent’ is defined based on the employee’s caring responsibilities for the child to avoid excluding those who are not the child’s legal parents. As such, those who are the ‘primary carer’ of a child where their relationship is ‘parental’ in nature will be eligible to take this leave.

The right is available from day one of employment and employees will be entitled:

• the natural parent of the child, including situations where the child has been adopted but there is a court order in place for the employee to see the child
• a person with whom the child has been placed for adoption, including a fostering for adoption scheme
• a person who lived with the child when they have entered the UK from overseas and the employee has received ‘official notification’ to adopt them
• an intended parent under a surrogacy arrangement where the court is expected to make a parental order under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008
• a ‘parent in fact’, who had day to day responsibility for the child’s care for at least four weeks prior to their death
• the partner of any of the above.

Length of leave

A leave entitlement of ‘at least two weeks’ if allowed. This two-week period applies per child. Employees can take this leave in the following patterns:

• one single week of leave (if this is all the employee wishes to take)
• one single block of two weeks’ leave
• two separate blocks of one week of leave.

Flexibility around how leave can be taken will allow employees to schedule the bereavement leave based on their individual circumstances, and needs. Allowing leave to only be taken within blocks of a week will also ensure this is manageable for the organisation.

Timing and notification of leave

Bereavement leave must be taken within a period of ‘at least 56 days’ which begins on the date of the child’s death, or the date of the stillbirth. For leave taken within 56 days after the child’s death, or stillbirth, no formal notice is required from the employee. There is a requirement for the employee to tell the employer the reason for their absence and that they wish to take parental bereavement leave, however this can be done informally.

When leave is taken after this period and up to 56 weeks after the child’s death, employees are required to give their employer at least one weeks’ notice of their intention to take parental bereavement leave. This will enable organisations to have certainty and make arrangements to cover the employee’s absence. A certain degree of flexibility may still be required and it is suggested that the employee gives reasonable notice to their manager.

Eligibility conditions for statutory pay

During periods of statutory parental bereavement leave, an employee may be entitled to statutory parental bereavement pay (SPBP) where they meet the eligibility conditions set out within the Parental Bereavement. To be eligible the employee has to meet the following conditions:

• be a bereaved parent
• have been employed for at least 26 continuous weeks by their employer at the end of the relevant week
• have average earnings of at least the lower earnings limit in the eight weeks before the relevant week
• remain continuously employed by their employer (with whom the 26-week condition has been satisfied) in the period starting with the relevant week and ending on the day the child dies.

The ‘relevant week’ is defined as the week immediately before the one in which the child dies.

Entitlement to SPBP is per child, meaning eligible parents will be entitled to statutory pay for each child where more than one dies.

Relationships with other forms of statutory leave

If employees are on another form of statutory leave when they suffer their loss, such as maternity leave, this leave must finish first before they take parental bereavement leave. If parental bereavement leave is interrupted by another form of statutory leave, they can take their remaining entitlement to parental bereavement leave after the other leave has ended. This must be taken within 56 weeks of the death of the child.

Parental bereavement leave cannot be taken between blocks of shared parental leave, even if this leave is for another child.