The call comes in before 9am. An employee’s father died overnight. The manager covering has no policy to check, no idea what pay applies, and a rota to fill. They tell the employee to take three days, because that is what happened when someone’s mother died last year.

Three months later, a different employee asks for the same consideration when a close friend dies. The same manager says no. Friends are not family, he decides. Two decisions, no policy, no logic. That inconsistency is the raw material of a discrimination claim.

Bereavement leave is one of the most emotionally charged situations any employer encounters. It is also one of the most legally complicated, and the law has changed significantly. The Employment Rights Act 1996, Jack’s Law, the Employment Rights Act 2025: each layer adds obligations that most UK SMEs are not aware of. Getting bereavement leave wrong is not just bad for morale. It creates tribunal exposure.

Bereavement leave UK: the day-one right that pre-dates Jack’s Law

Most business owners believe the only statutory bereavement entitlement is parental bereavement leave. They are wrong.

The Employment Rights Act 1996 gives every employee a day-one right to take a reasonable amount of unpaid time off to deal with emergencies involving dependants. This explicitly includes the death of a dependant, to deal with the immediate aftermath, make funeral arrangements, or attend the funeral. No minimum service is required. It applies from the first day of employment.

The Act defines a dependant as a spouse or civil partner, a child, a parent, or anyone who lives in the same household, other than as an employee, tenant, lodger, or boarder. In practice, this covers a wide range of close domestic relationships.

The leave is unpaid unless the employer’s contract or policy says otherwise. But that is not the point the Act is making. The point is that refusing it is unlawful. Dismissing an employee, or treating them unfavourably, for exercising this right is automatically unfair dismissal. There is no qualifying period for that claim.

Many employers have never heard of this provision. Some have inadvertently refused it. A few have dismissed people for taking it. All of them were carrying risk they did not know existed.

Jack’s Law and statutory parental bereavement pay: what every parent is owed

Jack’s Law; the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018; came into force in April 2020. It was named in memory of Jack Herd, who died at the age of two. His mother Lucy Herd campaigned for years for a statutory right that simply did not exist before.

The law gives all employed parents a day-one right to two weeks’ leave following the death of a child under 18, or a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy. The two weeks can be taken as a single block or two separate one-week blocks, at any point within 56 weeks of the death. Leave can start on any day of the week.

Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay is paid at the flat rate, £194.32 per week from 6 April 2026, or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. To qualify for pay (as opposed to leave), the employee needs at least 26 weeks’ continuous service and average earnings of at least £129 per week. Leave itself is a day-one right regardless of service or earnings.

Eligible parents include biological parents, adoptive parents, guardians, foster parents, and the partners of any of these. The right is deliberately broad.

If you have not already confirmed that every manager in your business understands this entitlement is non-negotiable, that is worth doing today.

New bereavement leave entitlement UK employers must prepare for

The Employment Rights Act 2025 became law on 18 December 2025. Among its provisions is a new general right to bereavement leave that goes well beyond the death of a child.

Under the new framework, any employee who loses a “loved one” will gain a day-one entitlement to at least one week of unpaid leave, with at least 56 days from the date of death in which to take it. Crucially, the law does not define “loved one” by formal family title. The government has consulted on whether eligibility should be based on the importance the person played in the employee’s life, meaning blended families, extended families, and close friends may all fall within scope. Final eligibility definitions will be confirmed through secondary legislation.

The new right includes day-one protection against dismissal or unfavourable treatment for taking the leave.

When does it take effect? The bereavement leave provisions under the 2025 Act are not expected to come into force until 2027. But if your employment documentation still reflects the pre-2025 position, it is already out of date in spirit, and will be legally out of date before you know it. Employers with written policies that are already flexible enough to accommodate a range of relationships will not be scrambling when the regulations land.

Pregnancy loss and bereavement leave: the legal gap that is closing

Under Jack’s Law, a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy is covered. Below that threshold, there has historically been no statutory bereavement protection for pregnancy loss, no right to leave for miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, or molar pregnancy. The Miscarriage Association has advocated for change for years.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 closes this gap. Once the bereavement leave provisions come into force, expected in 2027, families who experience pregnancy loss before 24 weeks will have the same right to protected leave. This applies to both the person who experienced the loss and those in a specified relationship with them.

In the meantime, ACAS is clear that employers should treat pregnancy loss with care and compassion. Many employers already extend paid compassionate leave provisions to cover it. The question is whether yours does, and whether your managers know.

The most expensive bereavement leave mistake UK employers make

Here is the pattern that appears in employment tribunal claims involving bereavement leave: the employer had no written policy.

Without a written policy, every bereavement case is decided in the moment by a stressed manager. Sometimes they are generous. Sometimes they are not. Sometimes the decision depends on how well they know the employee, or how busy the week is. That inconsistency is not just unfair. It is dangerous.

When one employee receives five days of paid leave and another receives two for a comparable loss, and those employees differ in race, religion, age, or any other protected characteristic, the inconsistency becomes potential evidence of discrimination. When a manager refuses leave for a same-sex partner but would have granted it for a different-sex spouse, it becomes potential evidence of sexual orientation discrimination. When bereavement leave is refused or handled badly, and the employee resigns in response, it can become constructive dismissal.

We’ve been lucky so far. That is one of the most common things an MD says when they discover the HR documentation hasn’t been reviewed in years. Luck is not a compliance strategy.

ACAS is explicit: a written bereavement policy helps ensure transparency and consistency, and helps employers avoid discrimination claims. It is not a bureaucratic exercise. It is a business protection that costs almost nothing to create and can cost tens of thousands to be without.

What a bereavement leave policy for a UK SME needs to cover

A workable bereavement policy does not need to be long. It needs to answer six questions.

First: what are the statutory minimums? The time off for dependants right under the Employment Rights Act 1996, and parental bereavement leave under Jack’s Law, are not optional. The policy should acknowledge both and make clear that these are day-one rights.

Second: what does the employer offer above the statutory floor? Most employers extend a period of paid compassionate leave, typically two to five days for a close bereavement. Once documented, this becomes a consistent expectation rather than a favour the manager decides case by case.

Third: which relationships trigger which level of entitlement, and who has discretion beyond those definitions? The list of named relationships should be broad enough to reflect modern families: partners, step-parents, step-children, siblings. Alongside it should be an explicit acknowledgement that managers can exercise discretion for relationships that do not fit neatly into a category. That single sentence removes the binary choice between a rigid rule and no rule at all.

Fourth: does the policy address pregnancy loss? Given the incoming changes under the Employment Rights Act 2025, extending compassionate leave to employees and their partners who experience miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy is not ahead of the law, it is preparing for it.

Fifth: what is the process? Who does the employee contact, how quickly, and what happens with pay while things are confirmed? A few clear sentences prevent confusion at the worst possible time.

Sixth: what happens when the employee returns? A single sentence, that the employer will check in, that a phased return is available, that performance expectations are understood to be different in the short term, costs nothing and prevents the grief-related performance issues that, left unaddressed, become a capability process six months later.

Frequently asked questions on bereavement leave in the UK

Is bereavement leave a legal right in the UK?

Yes, in more than one form. Employees have a day-one right to unpaid time off to deal with the death of a dependant under the Employment Rights Act 1996. Parents who lose a child under 18 have a separate day-one right to two weeks’ leave under Jack’s Law, with statutory pay available to those who meet the service and earnings threshold. A broader general bereavement leave right is expected under the Employment Rights Act 2025, likely in 2027.

Do employers have to pay for bereavement leave?

The core statutory entitlements are unpaid, with the exception of Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay under Jack’s Law for eligible parents. Most employers choose to offer paid compassionate leave above the statutory minimum. The key is that whatever is offered should be documented in a written policy to ensure consistent application.

What are the risks if bereavement leave is refused or handled inconsistently?

Refusing the day-one right to time off for dependants is unlawful. Dismissing or treating someone unfavourably for exercising it is automatically unfair dismissal. Inconsistent application of a discretionary policy can give rise to discrimination claims depending on the circumstances — for example, where employees with different protected characteristics are treated differently for comparable bereavements.

Does bereavement leave cover miscarriage?

Currently, pregnancy loss before 24 weeks does not attract a statutory bereavement leave entitlement. The Employment Rights Act 2025 will extend protection to pregnancy loss before 24 weeks once its bereavement provisions come into force, expected in 2027. Many employers already include pregnancy loss within their compassionate leave policies in anticipation.

How does bereavement leave work in the NHS?

NHS employees are covered by the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook, which provides paid compassionate leave at the manager’s discretion, typically up to five days, though this can extend further depending on the relationship and circumstances. The statutory rights discussed above also apply to NHS employees, as they apply to all employees in England, Scotland, and Wales regardless of sector.

If your bereavement policy does not exist, or has not been reviewed since the Employment Rights Act 2025 became law, the risk is already on your books.

The HR Doctor reviews and rebuilds employment documentation for UK SMEs. That includes bereavement policies that are legally current, clear enough for any manager to use under pressure, and broad enough to reflect the 2025 Act changes before they take effect.

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