UK government greenlights new family bereavement and pregnancy loss rights

The changes will give more people a legal right to take time off work after suffering a bereavement or pregnancy loss in another shake-up to employment rights.

Effective from April 2027, employees who lose a spouse, partner, parent, adult child or sibling will be entitled to take two weeks unpaid leave, calculated according to their normal working pattern. These will be statutory day one rights, applicable from the first day of employment, and extend to cover step and half relatives, as well as foster, kinship care and adoptive relationships.

Previously, only parents who had suffered the loss of a child under 18 or a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy had a legal right to bereavement leave.

• Read more: how the Employment Rights Act will impact your business

The government confirmed that from next April women and their partners who experience any type of pregnancy loss including miscarriage, terminations and unsuccessful IVF embryo transfers would also be entitled to up to two weeks of unpaid leave. Other biological parents, partners – both co-habiting and not co-habiting – and intended parents in a surrogacy arrangement will also now be entitled to pregnancy loss leave.

Employees affected by a stillbirth after 24 weeks may also qualify for statutory maternity, paternity or shared parental leave and pay.

The government says the aim of the new entitlements is to ensure employees have a protected period away from work during some of life's most difficult circumstances, while also providing employers with a clearer framework for supporting staff. In April, Northern Ireland became the first devolved nation in the UK to introduce enhanced parental bereavement legislation.

These changes follow a 12-week consultation conducted earlier this year that examined how family leave, including bereavement leave and pregnancy loss leave, should be accommodated, while trying to find a workable balance for employers and workplaces of all sizes.

In its response (50 pages / 614KB PDF) to the consultation, the government said that leave will be able to be taken within 56 weeks of the bereavement and in discontinuous, single days. The leave period will typically start from the date of death or pregnancy loss.

Employees may also be entitled to time off for dependants to deal with practical matters following a death, but this will not provide a right to take time off specifically to grieve. Bereaved employees may be entitled to statutory sick pay if their health is impacted by bereavement.

The government has also confirmed that notice requirements will be deliberately light-touch. Employees can provide notice to employers “as soon as reasonably practicable”. This may be the same day if taken within the first eight weeks of bereavement, or one week’s notice thereafter. Employees can inform their employers verbally or in writing. Significantly, there will be no requirement for employees to provide evidence in order to take the leave. 

Some consultation respondents argued that the new entitlement should be paid. However, the government concluded that the priority should be to establish a widely available minimum right to time off while ensuring the impact on employers remains proportionate. The statutory scheme will therefore provide unpaid leave, although employers will remain free to enhance the entitlement by offering paid bereavement leave should they wish to do so. 

Dr Anne Sammon, an employment law expert with Pinsent Masons, said the government’s response confirms how the entitlement will operate and provides employers with greater clarity ahead of its implementation in April 2027. “The government has sought to strike a balance between providing employees with a meaningful right to time away from work following a bereavement and limiting the burden on employers. Many employers already provide paid compassionate leave. However, the new statutory regime will establish a minimum level of protection across the workforce and employers should review their bereavement, family leave and absence policies to ensure they are ready for the changes to ensure full alignment with the new framework."

Sammon said that publicity surrounding the introduction of the new statutory right may lead to a greater number of employees taking bereavement leave in practice even where discretionary policies have already been in place. “Employers may therefore wish to monitor levels of uptake and consider whether their existing policies remain fit for purpose”, she added. “For example, although the new statutory entitlement will not allow employers to require evidence of a bereavement, different considerations may apply where an organisation offers enhanced contractual benefits. Employers providing paid bereavement leave above the statutory minimum may wish to review whether any evidence requirements linked to those enhanced arrangements remain appropriate and clearly documented.”

The latest changes build on expanded workers’ entitlements to bereavement and paternity leave introduced in April under the Employment Rights Act. They also form part of a broader review the government is undertaking of the parental leave and pay system, which will be informed by a recent consultation on the rights of people with unpaid caring responsibilities and parents who care for seriously ill children.