Bereavement Leave in the UK: Your Legal Rights

Losing someone close to you while having to navigate workplace obligations can feel impossibly difficult. Understanding your legal rights clearly — and knowing what to ask your employer — can give you the space you need to grieve. This guide explains what the law actually guarantees, what most employers provide, and what to do if your employer does not treat you fairly.

The legal minimum: what UK law actually guarantees

Many people are surprised — and understandably frustrated — to discover that UK law provides very limited statutory bereavement leave rights. Unlike holiday pay, sick leave, and maternity leave, there is no general legal right to paid time off when a close family member dies.

The Employment Rights Act 1996 provides a right to 'reasonable time off for dependants' (see below), but this is specifically framed as emergency unpaid leave to deal with an unexpected situation, not a general bereavement entitlement. For most employees, whether they receive paid bereavement leave — and how much — depends entirely on their employment contract or the discretion of their employer.

This means that across the UK workforce, bereavement entitlements vary enormously: a public sector employee may be entitled to five days' paid compassionate leave as a contractual right, while a part-time retail worker on a zero-hours contract may have no contractual entitlement whatsoever. Campaigners, including the Dying Matters coalition, have long argued that this gap should be addressed by legislation, but as of early 2026, no general statutory right to paid bereavement leave has been introduced.

Parental Bereavement Leave: the statutory entitlement for parents

The Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018, which came into force in April 2020, created the only current statutory entitlement to bereavement leave in the UK. It applies to:

• Parents (including adoptive parents, foster carers, and those with a parental order) who lose a child under the age of 18
• Parents who experience a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy

Eligible employees are entitled to two weeks' leave, which can be taken as a single block, two separate weeks, or any combination within 56 weeks of the child's death. This flexibility is specifically designed to acknowledge that grief does not follow a linear pattern — a parent may manage an immediate return to work but need time off around the first anniversary.

Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay is paid at the lower of £184.03 per week (2025/26 rate) or 90% of average weekly earnings. To qualify for the pay element, you must have been continuously employed for at least 26 weeks and have earnings above the lower earnings limit. If you do not meet the earnings threshold, you are still entitled to the leave — just not the pay. Some employers top up this rate contractually; check your contract or ask HR.

Compassionate leave: contractual entitlements most employers provide

The majority of UK employers offer some form of paid compassionate or bereavement leave as a contractual benefit, even though they are not legally required to do so. The amount varies widely, but common entitlements are:

• Immediate family (spouse, civil partner, parent, child): typically 3–5 days' paid leave
• Extended family (grandparent, sibling, parent-in-law): typically 1–3 days' paid leave
• Close friend or other relationship: often at manager's discretion, or unpaid

To find out what your employer provides, check your employment contract, your staff handbook or intranet HR section, or ask your line manager or HR department directly. Many employers have a bereavement leave policy that is more generous than the legal minimum — but you will only know by asking.

If your employer's compassionate leave entitlement is insufficient for your needs, you may be able to supplement it with annual leave, unpaid leave, or — if your grief is clinically significant — sick leave supported by a GP fit note.

The right to time off for dependants

Section 57A of the Employment Rights Act 1996 gives all employees a statutory right to take a reasonable amount of unpaid time off to deal with unexpected or sudden emergencies involving a dependant. This includes dealing with the death of a dependant.

A 'dependant' for these purposes includes a spouse or civil partner, a child, a parent, or a person who lives in the same household as you (other than as a tenant, lodger, or boarder). It also includes anyone who reasonably relies on you for assistance in an emergency.

The right to time off for dependants is specifically intended to cover the immediate aftermath: informing an employer, making initial funeral arrangements, and dealing with the sudden disruption that a death causes. It is not intended to cover an extended period of bereavement. 'Reasonable' in this context typically means one or two days, not a week or more.

Critically, this right is to unpaid leave. Your employer cannot refuse it, and they cannot dismiss you or subject you to a detriment (such as a disciplinary action or denial of promotion) for taking it. However, they are not required to pay you for it unless your contract says otherwise.

If your employer refuses reasonable time off or pushes for an early return

If you believe your employer has unlawfully denied you Parental Bereavement Leave, refused your right to time off for dependants, or penalised you for taking bereavement leave, you have several options:

• Raise a formal grievance: Most employers have an internal grievance procedure. Submitting a formal written grievance creates a paper trail and obliges your employer to investigate and respond formally
• Contact ACAS: The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (acas.org.uk) provides free guidance and can facilitate early conciliation between you and your employer before any Employment Tribunal claim
• Employment Tribunal: If your employer has denied you a statutory right — such as Parental Bereavement Leave or time off for dependants — you can make a claim to an Employment Tribunal. There are strict time limits: generally three months less one day from the date of the act you are complaining about
• Seek legal advice: Many employment solicitors offer a free initial consultation; Citizens Advice also provides free employment rights guidance