New Right To Paid Parental Bereavement Leave
Under the new entitlement working parents who lose a child under the age of 18 will get two weeks’ statutory leave and where they meet the necessary conditions a legal right to two weeks’ paid bereavement leave.
Former Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom, stated:
“The Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay Regulations, which will be known as Jack’s Law in memory of Jack Herd whose mother Lucy campaigned tirelessly on the issue, will implement a statutory right to a minimum of 2 weeks’ leave for all employed parents if they lose a child under the age of 18, or suffer a stillbirth from 24 weeks of pregnancy, irrespective of how long they have worked for their employer.
This is the most generous offer on parental bereavement pay and leave in the world, set to take effect from April.”
Under these new rules, parents will be able to take the leave as either a single block of two weeks, or as two separate blocks of one week each taken at different times across the first year after their child’s death.
The right to Parental Bereavement Leave (PBL) will apply to all employed parents who lose a child under the age of 18 or suffer a stillbirth (from 24 weeks of pregnancy), irrespective of how long they have been with their employer.
Parents with at least 26 weeks’ continuous service with their employer and weekly average earnings over the lower earnings limit (£118 per week for 2019/20) will also be entitled to Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP), paid at the statutory rate of £148.68 per week (for 2019/20), or 90% of average weekly earnings where this is lower.*
The government has confirmed SPBP will be administered by employers in the same way as existing family-related statutory payments such as Statutory Paternity Pay.
Laura Bright (FCA) of Harvey, Telford & Bates comments on Parental Bereavement Leave:
“This new right to paid bereavement leave which gives employees 2 weeks’ statutory leave is aimed at helping aid employees during an extremely difficult situation in their lives and the lives of their loved ones. The Parental Bereavement Leave not only affects employees, but will also affect businesses who will support their employees during this time. At Harvey, Telford and Bates, we are able to advise businesses on this new statutory pay and guide them. If you would like advice, you can get in touch with our team.”
For more information and advice, you can contact a member of our team on 01743 462604 or email us at [email protected] to schedule a meeting.
