An employee comes to you and says their father has died. What happens next?
If you are like most business owners, you will want to do right by them, but you are probably not entirely sure what the law actually requires. Is there a set number of days? Do you have to pay them? What if it is a grandparent rather than a parent?
The honest answer is that UK bereavement leave law is patchier than most employers expect. There is no single, clean entitlement that covers every loss. Instead, there are a few specific legal rights layered on top of a lot of employer discretion. This guide walks through exactly what the law requires right now, what is changing from 2027, and how to build a policy that protects your business while genuinely supporting your team.
Not in the way most people assume. There is no general law giving every employee a fixed number of paid days off when someone dies.
What does exist is the right to take a “reasonable” amount of unpaid time off to deal with an emergency involving a dependant, under the Employment Rights Act 1996. This is sometimes called time off for dependants, and it is designed to cover the immediate crisis, not an extended period of grief.
In practice, this usually works out to one or two days. There is no fixed number written into law. What counts as reasonable depends on the situation, the employee’s role, and how disruptive the death is to their immediate circumstances.
A dependant, for these purposes, typically includes:
Beyond this narrow legal right, everything else comes down to your own company policy.
Picture the legal right to time off for dependants as a fire extinguisher rather than a duvet. It is there for the immediate emergency, the phone call, the funeral arrangements, the practical scramble in the first day or two. It is not designed to cover the weeks of grief that follow. That is where a proper compassionate leave policy needs to pick up the slack.
There is one situation where the law is completely clear cut. If an employee’s child dies before their 18th birthday, or they experience a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy, they have a statutory right to two weeks of parental bereavement leave.
Key points employers need to know:
This is currently the only bereavement scenario in UK law with a guaranteed minimum number of days attached to it.
This is a newer right that many employers are still catching up on. As of April 2026, eligible fathers and partners have a day-one right to up to 52 weeks of leave if the mother or primary adopter of their child dies within the child’s first year.
This leave must be taken within 52 weeks of the child’s birth or adoption placement, and it exists separately from standard paternity leave. Statutory pay may apply depending on eligibility, though employers should check current thresholds when this situation arises, since the rules sit alongside standard paternity pay eligibility criteria.
If you have not updated your family leave policy to reflect this since April 2026, now is a good time.
Given how limited the statutory position is, the vast majority of UK businesses go beyond the legal minimum through their own compassionate leave or bereavement leave policy. Standard practice tends to look something like this:
None of this is a legal requirement. It is simply what has become common practice, largely because employers recognise that a rigid, unpaid, one-day policy does not reflect how people actually grieve or how disruptive a bereavement can be to someone’s ability to function at work.
You might assume that because the law gives you flexibility, you should just handle each case informally as it comes up. In practice, this tends to backfire.
Without a written policy, you risk:
A clear compassionate leave policy, set out in your staff handbook, removes the guesswork. Everyone knows where they stand before they need it, which is exactly when they are least able to read through paperwork.
If you are reviewing your wider leave and absence policies at the same time, our Absence Management service is worth a look.
This is the part most current guidance misses. The Employment Rights Act 2025 creates a brand new statutory right to bereavement leave that goes well beyond Jack’s Law, and it is set to come into force in 2027.
Here is what we know so far:
A government consultation on the details closed in January 2026, and further guidance is expected before implementation. If you are updating your absence policies now, it is worth building in enough flexibility that you will not need to tear the whole thing up again once the 2027 regulations land.
A solid policy should cover:
Grief does not arrive on a schedule, and a good manager knows that a colleague who seems “fine” after three days back at work is not always fine. Building flexibility into your policy, rather than a rigid day count, tends to serve both the business and the employee far better in practice.
UK bereavement leave law is narrower than most people expect. Outside of the two-week right for parents who lose a child and the newer right for bereaved partners, the law only guarantees a reasonable, unpaid amount of time for the immediate emergency. Everything else is down to your own policy, which is exactly why having a clear, written, and genuinely compassionate approach matters. With a new statutory right to broader bereavement leave landing in 2027, now is a sensible time to review what you currently offer.
If you are not sure your policy covers everything it should, or you want help getting ahead of the 2027 changes, our team can help you build something clear and fair. Take a look at our Absence Management services or browse more guidance on our news and insights hub.
Only in specific circumstances, such as parental bereavement leave, where Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay may apply if the employee meets eligibility criteria. Outside of that, paid bereavement leave is entirely down to your company policy, not a legal requirement.
No. Every employee has a legal right to a reasonable amount of unpaid time off to deal with a dependant’s death, even without a formal policy in place. Refusing this outright would breach the Employment Rights Act 1996.
There is no statutory right covering pet bereavement, though some employers choose to offer a day of discretionary leave for this. If you want to include it, state this clearly in your policy so managers apply it consistently.
If an employee is not fit to return to work after their bereavement leave ends, this typically shifts to being managed as sickness absence, potentially supported by a fit note. It is worth explaining this transition clearly in your policy so it does not feel like a penalty for still struggling.
The right to reasonable unpaid time off for dependants applies to employees and, in a more limited form, to workers. Parental bereavement leave and pay have their own eligibility rules based on employment status and length of service, so it is worth checking status carefully before assuming entitlement either way.
