Employed parents who lose a child under the age of 18 will have the right to two weeks’ paid leave under new proposed laws.
The Parental Bereavement (Pay and Leave) Bill will give a day-one right to parental bereavement leave and employees with a minimum of 26 weeks’ continuous service will be eligible for statutory parental bereavement pay.
Currently there is no legal requirement for employers to provide paid time off for grieving parents. The new provisions will give parents two weeks’ paid leave and enable businesses to claim back statutory parental bereavement pay.
‘We want parents to feel properly supported by their employer when they go through the deeply distressing ordeal of losing a child,’ said Margot James, Business Minister. ‘That’s why government is backing this bill which goes significantly further than most other countries in providing this kind of workplace right for employees.’
Small employers will be able to recover all statutory parental bereavement pay, while larger employers will be able to reclaim almost all of it. The government estimate the annual cost of statutory payments under this proposal to be between £1.3 million and £2 million.
The Bill will have its second reading on 20 October, with the ambition of it becoming law in 2020.
