A Jamie HR manager's guide

The manager's guide to bereavement leave

A practical guide for managers and small businesses on the three bereavement-related leave rights: Parental Bereavement Leave, Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave, and the new Bereavement Leave right coming under the Employment Rights Act 2025, including its planned protection for pregnancy loss before 24 weeks.
Jack's Law: 2 weeks
Partner's leave: up to 52 weeks
New right expected 2027

Bereavement at work is already covered by two separate statutory rights, and a third is on the way.

This guide sets out Parental Bereavement Leave and Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave, both already in force, and the new general Bereavement Leave right created by the Employment Rights Act 2025, which is not yet in force. It explains who each right covers, how the three will sit alongside each other, and the practical steps to take now while the detail of the new right is still being confirmed.

What's inside
Parental Bereavement Leave, sometimes called Jack's Law3
Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay4
Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave5
What's coming: a new right to Bereavement Leave6
Who the new right will cover7
Pregnancy loss before 24 weeks: a new protection8
Timing: what's still unconfirmed9
How the three rights sit together10
Getting your policies ready11
Getting bereavement leave right12
How Jamie HR helps13

Parental Bereavement Leave, sometimes called Jack's Law

This is the longest-standing of the three rights, and the only one triggered by the death of a child.
  • An employee is entitled to 2 weeks' leave if their child dies before their 18th birthday, or if they have a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy.
  • It has applied to deaths and stillbirths on or after 6 April 2020, when the Parental Bereavement Leave Regulations 2020 came into force.
  • It is a day-one right: length of service makes no difference to whether an employee can take the leave.
  • The 2 weeks can be taken together or as 2 separate weeks, and must end within 56 weeks of the child's death or stillbirth.
  • The employee's normal employment rights, including holiday accrual and any pay rise, continue while they are on this leave.
Manager tip
Because this is a day-one right, do not ask how long someone has worked for you before agreeing the leave itself. Length of service only affects eligibility for the associated pay, covered next.

Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay

Leave and pay have separate eligibility tests, and it is easy to run them together.
  • To qualify for pay, the employee needs at least 26 weeks' continuous service with you by the end of the relevant week, and average earnings of at least £129 a week (gross).
  • Where eligible, Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay is £194.32 a week, or 90% of average weekly earnings if that is lower.
  • An employee can take the 2 weeks' leave even where they do not meet the service or earnings conditions for the pay; the leave and the pay are assessed separately.
  • Pay follows the same pattern as the leave: up to 2 weeks, taken together or separately, within 56 weeks of the death or stillbirth.

Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave

A second, separate right came into force on 6 April 2026, for a different kind of loss: the death of a partner.
  • It applies where the mother, the main adopter, or the main intended parent in a surrogacy arrangement dies on or after 6 April 2026, and the employee has main responsibility for bringing up the child.
  • An employee can take a single continuous block of leave of up to 52 weeks, starting the day after the death and ending within 52 weeks of the child's birth, placement or arrival.
  • Where the death happens less than 14 days before that 52-week point, the employee can still take 14 days' leave.
  • It is a day-one right, and it is unpaid, though you can choose to pay some or all of it under a contractual scheme.
  • Notice can be given informally, verbally or in writing, within 8 weeks of the death; after that, written notice of at least a week is required.
Manager tip
If the death falls close to the end of the 52-week window, remember the employee still keeps a minimum of 14 days' leave. Do not assume the entitlement has run out.

What's coming: a new right to Bereavement Leave

The Employment Rights Act 2025 creates a third right, wider than the other two, but it is not yet in force.
  • Section 18 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces a new statutory Bereavement Leave, alongside the two rights already covered in this guide.
  • It is intended to cover the loss of people who fall outside Parental Bereavement Leave and Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave, such as a spouse, partner, or other close family member.
  • The Act sets a minimum of one week's leave for bereavements other than the death of a child, which remains covered by Parental Bereavement Leave.
  • It will be unpaid, and it will be a day-one right, with no minimum length of service needed.
  • The Act requires that the employee has at least 56 days to take the leave; regulations may set a longer period.

Who the new right will cover

The Act leaves the detail of who counts as a 'bereaved person' to regulations, and that detail is still being worked out.
  • The Employment Rights Act 2025 defines eligibility by reference to conditions 'specified' in regulations, rather than listing relationships in the Act itself.
  • A government consultation, which closed on 15 January 2026, proposed covering spouses, civil partners and long-term partners, parents and adult children, and siblings.
  • The same consultation also asked about extending cover to wider family, such as grandparents, grandchildren, in-laws, aunts, uncles and cousins, and to other important relationships such as close friends or chosen family.
  • None of this is settled law yet. The final list of qualifying relationships will be set out in secondary legislation, after the government has considered consultation responses.
Watch out
Do not commit to a fixed list of covered relationships in your policy yet. The scope is still subject to consultation and could change before the regulations are made.

Pregnancy loss before 24 weeks: a new protection

This is intended to close a gap that has existed since Parental Bereavement Leave was introduced in 2020.
  • Parental Bereavement Leave has only ever covered stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy; pregnancy loss before that point has never carried a statutory leave right.
  • The new Bereavement Leave right is intended to cover pregnancy loss before 24 weeks, including miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, and loss following medical termination or a failed IVF embryo transfer.
  • The government's consultation asked specific questions about which types of pregnancy loss should be in scope, so the final definition is not yet fixed.
  • As with the wider bereavement right, this protection is not yet in force. Current statutory rights do not cover pregnancy loss before 24 weeks.

Timing: what's still unconfirmed

Be plain with your managers and staff about what is settled and what is not.
  • Only the power to make regulations under section 18 has come into force so far, from 6 January 2026; the right for employees to take the leave has not started.
  • The government's own factsheet gives an expected commencement of 2027, without a specific date.
  • ACAS confirms that the government has not yet announced when in 2027 the change will take effect.
  • The relationships covered, the exact notice and evidence requirements, and how the leave will interact with any existing bereavement or compassionate leave policy will all be set out in regulations still to come.

How the three rights sit together

Once the new right is in force, which one applies will depend on who has died.
  • Death of a child under 18, or a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy: Parental Bereavement Leave, 2 weeks, in force since 2020.
  • Death of the mother, main adopter or main intended parent of a child, where the employee has main responsibility for that child: Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave, up to 52 weeks, in force since 6 April 2026.
  • Death of a spouse, partner or other close family member not covered by the two rights above, or pregnancy loss before 24 weeks: the new Bereavement Leave, at least one week, expected 2027.
  • An employee's circumstances could point to more than one right, for example a bereaved partner who is also the child's parent. Check the qualifying conditions for each right rather than assuming only one applies.
Watch out
These three rights are easy to conflate because they all concern bereavement. Confirm which right applies to the specific relationship and date of death before you tell an employee what they are entitled to.

Getting your policies ready

You do not need to wait for the regulations before you start preparing.
  • Review your bereavement or compassionate leave policy now, so managers can see clearly which statutory right, if any, sits alongside it.
  • Keep Parental Bereavement Leave and Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave as distinct entries in your HR system, since both are already in force and have different qualifying conditions.
  • Brief managers on the difference between leave eligibility and pay eligibility for Parental Bereavement Leave, since the two use different tests.
  • Watch for the government's response to the bereavement leave consultation and the secondary legislation that follows, so you can update policies before the new right commences.
  • Once the covered relationships and minimum leave period are confirmed, check whether any existing contractual bereavement or compassionate leave already goes beyond them.
Manager tip
Set a reminder to revisit this guide once the government publishes its response to the consultation or confirms a commencement date, since the detail of the new right is still to be finalised.

Getting bereavement leave right

A summary of the essentials covered in this guide:
  • Parental Bereavement Leave: 2 weeks for the death of a child under 18 or a stillbirth after 24 weeks, a day-one right since 6 April 2020.
  • Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay needs 26 weeks' service and minimum earnings; check it separately from the leave itself.
  • Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave: up to 52 weeks, unpaid, a day-one right, for the death of a partner from 6 April 2026.
  • A new general Bereavement Leave is coming under the Employment Rights Act 2025: at least one week, unpaid, a day-one right, covering other close relationships and pregnancy loss before 24 weeks.
  • Expected in 2027, but the exact date and the exact relationships covered are not yet confirmed.
  • Review your policies now, and keep each of the three rights recorded separately so managers apply the right one to the right situation.

How Jamie HR helps

Jamie HR keeps every bereavement-related leave request recorded correctly, however sensitive the situation, so the right entitlement is applied every time.
  • Distinct leave types for Parental Bereavement Leave, Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave and, once confirmed, the new Bereavement Leave right.
  • Leave and pay tracked separately, so a request is not blocked by a service requirement that does not apply to it.
  • Sensitive documents stored securely, with access limited to those who need it.
  • Policy library kept current as the Employment Rights Act 2025 regulations are confirmed.
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This guide is general information, accurate to the best of our knowledge as of 2026, and is not legal advice. Employment law changes and every situation is different, so for a specific case take professional HR or legal advice. Sources: gov.uk, ACAS, legislation.gov.uk and the Employment Rights Act 2025.