Bereavement Leave and Pay
Any employee has a right to take time off work in the event of bereavement of a dependent. For this purpose, the term “dependent” includes the employee’s husband, wife, civil partner, child, any person that lives with them (but not including lodgers, tenants) and any other person that relies on them, such as an elderly neighbour that depends on the employee.
The law does not specify a precise amount of time that the employee can take off in these circumstances. The rules simply refer to a “reasonable” amount of time. There will be some flexibility around this, but the time off is expected to be used simply for making arrangements for, and attending, the funeral. If a longer period is required by the employee, it may be better to consider taking at least some of that as paid holiday (if they any available). If an employer is going to offer to pay the employee during the time taken off work, they should ensure that they exercise their discretion to do so fairly and consistently. Ideally an employer should have a clear written policy dealing with this issue.
Parents have a right to take statutory parental bereavement leave if they're an employee, and their child dies under the age of 18 or is stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy. The statutory parental bereavement leave can be taken in the 56 weeks following their child's death.
If more than one child dies, the employee is entitled to 2 weeks' statutory parental bereavement leave for each child.
If an employee's child dies, they can still take any statutory maternity, paternity, adoption or shared parental leave they are entitled to for that child, as well as any parental bereavement leave.
Both employees and workers entitled to 2 weeks' statutory parental bereavement pay if:-
- their child dies under the age of 18 or is stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy,
- they were employed when their child died,
- they'd worked for their employer for at least 26 weeks, on the Saturday before the child's death, and
- they earn on average at least £123 per week, before tax.
Statutory parental bereavement pay is the minimum amount employers must pay eligible staff.
Eligible employees and workers will get one of the following, whichever is lower:-
- £172.48 a week, or
- 90% of their average weekly earnings
The statutory amount can be enhanced if the employer so wishes, but the employer cannot reduce it.