The Government has published its response to the consultation on a new right to Bereavement Leave, which will be introduced by the Employment Rights Act 2025.
The response confirms the details of this new right which will sit alongside the existing entitlement to Parental Bereavement Leave, which is limited to parents who lose a child under 18 or experience a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy, and which provides up to two weeks of paid leave.
The new entitlement is broader in scope but will be unpaid.
The Government has confirmed the final details of the entitlement which are as follows:
- Eligibility: all employees from day one will be eligible.
- Coverage: The leave will cover the loss of immediate family members – spouses, civil partners, partners in a committed long-term relationship, parents, adult children and siblings (biological, adopted, step and half). It will also cover equivalent parental relationships for those raised in kinship or foster care arrangements. For pregnancy loss, it will be available to the person who was pregnant, the other biological parent, the spouse, civil partner or partner, an intended co-parent, and intended parents in a surrogacy arrangement
- Pregnancy loss: all types of pregnancy loss before 24 weeks will be covered, including miscarriage, ectopic, molar and chemical pregnancies, all terminations, and IVF embryo transfer loss
- Duration: up to two weeks leave will be available, based on the employee’s working pattern, which can be taken in discontinuous single days within 56 weeks of the bereavement
- Notice and evidence: notice can be given as soon as reasonably practicable – the same day within the first eight weeks, and one week’s notice thereafter. There will be no evidence requirements for this entitlement.
The new right is expected to come into force in April 2027.
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