The Government has confirmed that new legislation in respect of parental bereavement leave will come into force from 6 April 2020.
The Parental Bereavement Leave Regulations 2020 and The Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay Regulations 2020 are known as Jack’s Law in memory of Jack Herd, whose mother campaigned for mandatory leave for grieving parents following the tragic death of her 23-month old son in 2010. At the time, she was only entitled to three days off work, one of which was to attend the funeral.
The new legislation will implement a statutory right to a minimum of two weeks’ leave for all working parents who lose a child under the age of 18, or who suffer a stillbirth from the 24th week of pregnancy, irrespective of how long they have worked for their employer. The leave can be taken in one go or in two separate one-week blocks up until the first anniversary of their child’s death, in order to be flexible over when the leave is needed the most.
Furthermore, those employees with six months’ continuous service and average earnings at or above the lower earnings limit, will also be entitled to statutory parental bereavement pay.
The new rules come into force in April but, as the law currently stands, there is no automatic right to paid time off for bereavement. All employees are entitled to the right to take unpaid time off to deal with emergencies and unexpected issues involving a dependant, including following the death of a child. The law does not, however, specify how much time off can be taken, only that it should be ‘reasonable’, depending on the individual circumstances. Historically, this has allowed employers to deal with bereavement leave in accordance with their own policies, with some allowing employees as much time as they need on full pay, and others insisting that time off is taken as holiday or sick leave.
The new rules only apply to child bereavement. Time off following the death of other dependants, including spouse, partner or parent, is still subject to existing laws, allowing a ‘reasonable’ amount of unpaid leave at the employer’s discretion.
We welcome this very positive change to UK employment law which will provide certainty and support at a time of immense personal tragedy and ensure that bereaved parents are better protected in the future.
Nockolds is proud to be named as highly recommended advisers by the Foundation for Infant Loss and can provide advice to parents and businesses on any work-related issues following the devastating loss of a child.