There is already a statutory right to bereavement leave in certain circumstances. However, the Employment Rights Act 2025 extends this statutory entitlement. The UK Government consulted in October 2025 about these changes and have just responded with a plan of action for legislation to bring these into force.
Note that the following relates to the situation in Great Britain, i.e. employees who are employed under a contract written under the Employment Rights Act 1996. It will not apply in Northern Ireland, where things are already different.
Ahead of the 2024 General Election, the Labour Party published its ‘Make Work Pay’ document which promised to ‘clarify the law and entitlement, introducing the right to bereavement leave for all workers’. The Employment Rights Act 2025 in Great Britain legislated for changes, updating the primary employment law in the Employment Rights Act 1996. However, the provision extends to employees (under a contract of employment) which is narrower than workers.
The two main changes can be summarised:
1. A new statutory entitlement to Bereavement Leave will be introduced, applicable when an employee is bereaved of a person, i.e. not only bereaved of a child; and
2. A ‘bereaved person’ includes that statutory entitlement to leave for the bereavement of child up to an including the 24th week of pregnancy
Between 16 October 2025 and 15 January 2026, the UK Government opened a consultation on how this will work in practice. On 22 September 2026, the UK Government, via the Department Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) responded, paving the way for secondary legislation to implement the provisions in the 2025 Act. This was accompanied by a Press Release.
Note this does not replace Statutory Parental Bereavement Leave (SPBL) which is available to bereaved employees if they or their partner are bereaved of a child up to the age of 18 or have a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy. Depending on earnings and service, this might be paid as Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP).
Below, ICB focuses on the changes that employers will need to consider when secondary legislation brings these into effect from April 2027:
- To meet the description of being a bereaved person, legislation will specify the relationship to the employee. This will be wide and include family members (biological, adopted, step, and half-relations);
- A bereaved person in terms of pregnancy loss will include the person who was pregnant as well as any spouse or civil partner, including co-parents and intended parents in a surrogacy arrangement;
- A pregnancy loss will include all types of miscarriage up to 24 weeks, losses via terminations and IVF embryo transfer losses;
- If the employee has physical symptoms because of the bereavement of a child up to 24 weeks and becomes entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), this will establish a period of ‘protected sickness’ which will not count towards the total sickness absence;
- Leave will be up to two weeks and can be taken discontinuously in units of one day. This must be taken within 56 weeks of the date of or knowledge of bereavement;
- Notice periods will align with the current rules for Statutory Parental Bereavement Leave, i.e. as soon as possible within eight weeks of the bereavement with a notice period of one week when the eight weeks has passed. There will not be an evidence requirement; and
- The entitlement will be unpaid
So, there are two entitlements when it comes to the bereavement of a child:
1. Statutory Parental Bereavement Leave (SPBL) which may be paid and applies to bereavements of a child after 24 weeks of pregnancy (up to the age of 18); and
2. Bereavement Leave which is unpaid and applies to bereavements of a child up to 24 weeks of pregnancy
The Consultation response concludes by saying guidance will be published alongside the legislation that brings this into force from April 2027.
For Bookkeepers
This is a new employment law statutory entitlement to unpaid leave which employers will have to incorporate into policies and processes. Employment law changes are usually effective in an October unless they involve pay, in which case they are aligned to the start of the tax year. However, this is an unpaid employment law entitlement that is effective at the start of a tax year which is unusual. Payroll implications are limited to, possibly, making deductions for unpaid leave and / or making any payments the employers chooses to make contractually.
Maybe, this should be likened to the current Unpaid Parental Leave which has similar pay considerations, i.e. there is a statutory right for leave but no statutory right for it to be paid. Note also the inclusion of the term ‘protected sickness’ in the cases of bereavements of a child up to 24 weeks. This will not count towards the 28-weeks SSP maximum, something else that will need to be included in policies and software.