Bereavement leave becomes a day one right in April 2027

Until now there has been no general right to take time off when someone dies. Statutory parental bereavement leave covers the death of a child under 18 or a stillbirth after 24 weeks, and the right to time off for dependants covers emergencies rather than grief. Everything else has come down to the employer.

That changes in April 2027. The government has published its response to the bereavement leave consultation and confirmed how the new right under the Employment Rights Act 2025 will work.

What is changing

Bereavement leave becomes a day one right for all employees. No qualifying period, no minimum service.

Employees will be entitled to up to two weeks of unpaid leave, based on their usual working pattern.

Who it covers

The right applies on the death of a spouse, civil partner, partner in a committed long-term relationship whether living together or not, parent, adult child or sibling. Biological, adopted, step and half relationships all count, and so does any equivalent parental relationship arising from kinship or foster care.

Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins are not covered by the statutory right. The government has been clear that employers should talk to bereaved employees and think about whether their own policy ought to go further than the legal minimum.

Pregnancy loss before 24 weeks

This is the part that fills the biggest gap in the current law.

Leave will be available for pregnancy loss before 24 weeks, including termination and unsuccessful IVF embryo transfer. The pregnant person qualifies. So does their spouse, civil partner, other parent or committed partner, intended co-parents, and intended parents in surrogacy arrangements.

How the leave works

Two weeks, unpaid, and it does not have to be taken in one go. Employees can break it up as long as each block is at least a day long.

They have 56 weeks from the bereavement, or from finding out about it, to use the entitlement. Grief does not run to a convenient timetable, and the window reflects that.

Notice and evidence

In the first eight weeks after a bereavement, an employee only needs to tell you before they would have started work that day, or as soon as reasonably practicable afterwards. Beyond eight weeks, one week's notice applies.

Employers cannot ask for evidence. No death certificate, no order of service, no proof of a pregnancy loss.

That last point will sit uncomfortably with some employers. It is deliberate, and in our view it is the right call. Asking a grieving employee to produce paperwork before they can take unpaid leave is not a control worth having.

What employers should do now

April 2027 sounds a long way off. It is about eighteen months, and the work is not complicated, so it is worth doing properly rather than in a rush.

Look at your current compassionate leave policy and compare it to the new minimum. Plenty of organisations already offer more than two weeks, and often paid, in which case your job is mainly to make sure the policy covers the right relationships and includes pregnancy loss before 24 weeks.

If you have nothing written down, this is the prompt to write something.

Then think about your managers. A policy does not help much if the person an employee tells is unsure what to say or whether to escalate it. This is one of those areas where how it is handled matters more than what the policy says.

Further government guidance is expected before the right comes into force.