Parental bereavement leave and pay

Employees who are parents, or partners of parents, either by biology, adoption or surrogacy, to a child under 18 (including stillbirths after 24 weeks of pregnancy) who died after 6 April 2020 (applicable in England, Scotland and Wales), are entitled to Parental Bereavement Leave and Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay. This applies regardless of the employees length of service. 

Key points

• Employees taking this leave have protected rights, including to pay rises, accrual of holiday, and to return to work.
• From day one, employees are entitled to two weeks' of Parental Bereavement Leave. 
• Parental Bereavement Leave can be taken as either: 
  • two weeks together
  • two separate weeks
  • one week alone
• The leave can start on or after the death or stillbirth, and must finish within 56 weeks of the death or stillbirth. 
• If Parental Bereavement Leave is interrupted by another type of statutory leave, then any remaining Parental Bereavement Leave can be taken after the other leave has ended. 
• Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay is the lower of £172.48 or 90% of average weekly earnings, subject to the lower earnings limit of £123 (see our ‘Statutory rates’ page for historic rates).
• Notice and relevant information must be given to receive Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay.

30 November 2023

In November 2023, the Government proposed to increase key statutory rates from April 2024. Statutory maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental and parental bereavement pay are all set to increase from £172.48 to £184.03 per week from April 2024. These increases remain proposals for now; confirmation is awaited. Whilst the Government could amend the proposals, that is highly unlikely.