Bereavement Leave UK Entitlement

What the Law Actually Gives You

UK employment law provides two distinct statutory rights when someone close to you dies. The first is the right to reasonable time off for dependants under the Employment Rights Act 1996. The second, introduced in 2020, is Jack's Law — two weeks of statutory parental bereavement leave for the death of a child under 18 or a stillbirth after 24 weeks.

The dependant time off right covers any employee from day one of employment. It allows you to take a reasonable amount of unpaid time off to deal with an emergency involving a dependant — and a death counts. A dependant is your spouse, civil partner, child, parent, or someone who reasonably relies on you for care. The law does not specify how many days is "reasonable." In practice, most employers accept one to three days for immediate arrangements: registering the death, contacting the funeral director, making urgent care arrangements for other dependants.

This right is unpaid by default. Your employer cannot refuse reasonable time off for this purpose, but they are not required to pay you for the time taken.

Jack's Law: Parental Bereavement Leave

In Great Britain, Jack's Law (the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018, in force from April 2020) gives an eligible employee the right to two weeks of leave following the death of a child under 18, or a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy. The eligible relationship can include being the child's biological or adoptive parent, the parent of a child born to a surrogate, the partner of the child's parent, or having day-to-day responsibility for the child in the circumstances set out by GOV.UK. For Northern Ireland, eligibility rules differ for bereavements on or after 6 April 2026. The leave can be taken as a single two-week block or as two separate one-week blocks within the 56 weeks following the death.

Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP) is paid at the same rate as other statutory family pay — £194.32 per week in 2026/27, or 90% of average weekly earnings if that is lower. To qualify for pay, you need at least 26 weeks of continuous service and average earnings of at least the Lower Earnings Limit (£129 per week in 2026/27). The leave itself is available from day one; only the pay element requires qualifying service.

You do not need to give evidence of the death. For leave taken in the first eight weeks, you must notify your employer before you would normally start work on the first day of the leave; for later leave, give at least one week's notice. You can phone, leave a voicemail, send a text message, or email, and proof of death is not required.

What About Everyone Else?

For the death of a parent, spouse, sibling, or close friend, there is no standalone statutory bereavement leave in the UK beyond the dependant time off right. Everything beyond that is employer policy.

Most employers offer between three and five days of paid compassionate leave for immediate family members (parent, spouse, child, sibling). Some extend one to two days for extended family (grandparent, aunt, uncle, in-law) or close friends. A few large employers — particularly in the public sector, universities, and NHS trusts — offer up to two weeks at full pay.

Your employment contract, staff handbook, or intranet HR pages will set out the specific policy. If your employer has no written policy, you still have the statutory right to reasonable unpaid time off for dependants, and you can negotiate additional time informally.

How to Request Time Off

Phone or email your line manager as soon as you can. You do not need to request time off in advance for the statutory dependant right — the whole point is that emergencies are unplanned. For employer compassionate leave policies, follow whatever notification procedure your handbook specifies, but most managers will not hold a missed form against someone who has just lost a family member.

If you need more time than your employer's standard policy allows — which is common when you are the executor or next of kin and must handle the estate, plan the funeral, and manage the household — ask for a combination of compassionate leave, annual leave, and unpaid leave. Many employers will agree to an extended arrangement if you explain the practical demands.

If your employer refuses reasonable time off entirely or penalises you for taking it, that refusal may give you grounds for an employment tribunal claim under Section 57B of the Employment Rights Act 1996. You do not need two years of service to bring this claim — it is a day-one right.

Planning the Funeral While Managing Work

The practical reality is that most UK funerals happen 7 to 14 days after the death. If you are the person organising the funeral — registering the death, meeting the funeral director, choosing the church or crematorium, coordinating family travel — three days of compassionate leave will not cover it.

Our Protestant Funeral UK planning guide walks you through every step from the Medical Examiner's scrutiny to the wake, with a checklist you can work through in the gaps between work obligations. It is designed for exactly this situation: someone who needs to plan a funeral efficiently while juggling other responsibilities.