Five Key Points an Employer Needs to Know About Taking Time Off for Bereavement in England

Your employees may take time off from their job with you for many reasons, such as sick leave, or they may wish to take annual leave. However, if your employee is unfortunate enough to suffer a bereavement whilst working for you, such as a family member, they are likely to want to take leave from work to deal with the death and may request bereavement leave. This can be called compassionate leave. You as an employer must understand your employee’s legal rights and your legal responsibilities as an employer regarding this. Your employee may be entitled to paid leave, for example, or parental bereavement leave.

This article will explain what you, as an employer, need to know about your employees taking time off for bereavement in England. It will explain what a dependant is and the length of time your employee may be entitled to off work due to the death of a loved one.

1. Legal Right to Bereavement Leave

A key point for you as an employer is understanding when your employees have a legal right to take time off for bereavement in England. Every person who works for you and is legally an employee has a legal right to take time off work for bereavement when either:

• their dependant dies; 
• their child under the age of 18 dies; or 
• they have a stillborn child.

Despite the legal right in these circumstances to take time off work for bereavement, there is not always a legal obligation to pay them for the time they take off work. Nevertheless, you may decide to pay them for it if you wish. However, where the bereavement concerns a child under 18 or stillbirth, you must pay them statutory parental bereavement pay, which is the lowest of either:

• £156.66 per week; or
• 90% of their average weekly earnings.

2. ‘Dependant’ in Terms of Bereavement Leave

As your employees have a legal right to time off for the bereavement of a dependant, you must understand what a dependent is. The following, for example, are your employees’ dependants:

• parents;
• children under 18;
• partner, civil partner or spouse;
• someone living with them but not their employee, tenant or lodger;
• someone who would be reliant on the employee, if they had an accident, fell ill or suffered an injury; and
• someone reliant on them to arrange their care.

3. Timeframe an Employee is Allowed Off Work

When an employee requests time off work for bereavement, you should understand the amount they may legally take. In most circumstances, this will be what you consider to be a ‘reasonable’ amount of time in the circumstances. This is often two to five days. When working this out, you should consider the following:

• unexpected issues related to the dependent;
• emergencies involving the dependent;
• arranging the funeral; and 
• attending the funeral.

However, the law states that where the bereavement leave concerns a child under 18 or stillbirth from any point after 24 weeks of pregnancy, your employee has a right to two weeks’ leave from work. This is formally ‘statutory parental bereavement leave’ or ‘Jack’s law’. These two weeks can be:

• consecutive weeks;
• two separate weeks; or
• just one week of leave; and
• taken anytime from the date of the death or stillbirth up until 56 weeks later.

4. Bereavement of Non-Dependants

A key point to note as an employer in terms of taking time off for bereavement is that in these circumstances, the law does not grant your employee the right to take time off work. However, it is good practice for you to show compassion and assess the circumstances of their situation. A person can still be very close to someone like they might be to a dependant. Accordingly, you may decide to allow time off for an employee.

5. Bereavement Workplace Policies

An employer must note the importance of having a bereavement policy at work. This is particularly important if you decide to offer your staff more time off than employment law permits them when facing a bereavement. For example, if you offer pay to those who take leave for the bereavement of a dependant. Alternatively, if you offer leave in circumstances where the employee is grieving a non-dependant.

A bereavement policy may detail the following:

• circumstances you will allow bereavement leave;
• the amount of leave you offer;
• when you require time off to be taken as another form of leave;
• whether and when you pay for bereavement leave; and 
• the amount of pay you give for bereavement leave.

Key Takeaways

The law allows your employees reasonable time off to grieve for the bereavement of a dependant. This reasonable time is, by law, two weeks when a child of your employee under 18 years of age dies or if they have a stillbirth. There are rules about bereavement leave in terms of pay. Also, as an employer, you can use your discretion to offer your staff more than your legal obligations regarding bereavement. Regardless, it is essential to be clear about what you provide regarding bereavement in your employment, and you should detail this in a bereavement policy.

If you need help understanding key points you need to know about staff taking time off for bereavement in England, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. So call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can staff take time off work in England for bereavement?

Your staff are legally entitled to take reasonable time off work in England for the bereavement of a dependant, and where that dependant is a child under 18 years of age or is stillborn, the time off is two weeks.

What is a crucial point an employer needs to know about taking time off for bereavement in England?

As an employer, there are many vital points you need to know about staff taking time off work for bereavement in England. For example, you only have to pay for bereavement leave where the bereavement is for a child under 18 years or a stillborn child.