• Kent HR
    01622 776445
Kent HR  
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Our People
    • Veronica Fox
    • Lily Toppo
    • Catherine Daw
    • Joanna Worby
    • Michelle Perry
    • Hazel Burgess
    • Lisa Clements
    • Sue Tewes
  • Services
    • HR operational support
    • HR strategy
    • Staff handbooks and HR policies
    • HR training and development
    • Employee relations support and retainer
    • Recruitment and selection support
    • HR support for business start ups
    • HR investigations
    • Employee wellbeing
    • Workplace mediation
    • Outplacement support
    • HR support for small businesses
    • HR support for schools and academies
    • HR support for charities
    • HR support for healthcare providers
    • Employment law support
  • Client Stories
  • Knowledge Centre
  • Events
  • Contact Us
  •  

Knowledge centre

Parental bereavement leave: What you need to know

  • Parental bereavement leave: What you need to know

    Published: April 8 2020

    The Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act was launched on 13 September 2018 and came into force on 6 April 2020. The legislation is known as ‘Jack’s Law’ in memory of Jack Herd whose mother, Lucy, campaigned for mandatory leave for grieving parents.

    Who is entitled?

    Employees who are parents or adults with parental responsibility such as adopters, foster parents and guardians will be entitled to parental bereavement leave if they have suffered the loss of a child under the age of 18.

    The new entitlement will also apply to parents who suffer a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy. It’s also important to point out that female employees will still be entitled to maternity leave and pay (if they meet the qualifying criteria).

    All employees are entitled to unpaid leave as a right from day one of their employment, however, employees with 26 weeks’ continuous service will be entitled to paid leave.

    What is the entitlement? 

    • Employees will be entitled to two weeks’ statutory leave. Those who are entitled to paid leave will receive pay at the statutory rate.
    • The time off can be taken in either a single two-week block or as two one-week periods, within 56 weeks of the child’s death, allowing people to take the time when they need it, such as anniversaries or other prominent dates.
    • If more than one child dies, the employee will be entitled to leave in respect of each child.

    What can you do?

    Review of current arrangements

    • You may want to use this opportunity to review any compassionate or bereavement leave. Does it reflect what happens in practice? Does it reflect the requirements of different racial or religious groups who may respect specific practices when in mourning?

    Policy

    • If you don’t have a policy in place, then you should consider implementing one in order to best provide support for those eligible and to recognise that grief is a process.
    • An effective policy must look after an employee’s wellbeing in the longer-term rather than short-term so that it can help to bring them back to their full potential. You may also consider enhancing the statutory minimum pay or even offer full pay.

    Employee wellbeing

    • No doubt such circumstances would pose difficulties for any eligible employees. They may experience mental health issues such as depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which could be considered a disability under the Equality Act 2010. Therefore, you should seek medical advice and make reasonable adjustments to their working arrangements where necessary. Encourage them to make use of your employee assistance programme (EAP) or something similar that you may have in place.

    Get in touch

    If you need further advice regarding parental bereavement leave or assistance drafting policies, then we can help. Contact one of the Kent HR team today.

    « previous article
    next article »
  • Articles that you may be interested in

  • Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – Information for employers

    The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) is a temporary scheme designed to support employers whose operations have been severely affected by coronavirus.

    Read Article
  • Tips for managing health and wellbeing in the workforce during coronavirus

    The outbreak of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) has impacted people in varying ways on an international scale. While it’s important to stay up to date with changing government guidelines, priority should also be given to the health and wellbeing of workers during these challenging times...

    Read Article
  • Have a question?

    Get in touch and our HR Consultants
    will get back to you.

    Subscribe to HR news and updates

    If you would like to hear about employment and
    HR updates from Kent HR and/or Brachers,
    please sign up today.

    Subscribe
  • Kent HR logo white version
    Tel: 01622 776445
    Email: info@kenthr.co.uk
    © 2021 Kent HR LLP
    Registered no: OC367476
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of engagement
    • Website terms of use
    • Accessibility
    • Sitemap
  • Head Office

    59 london road
    maidstone
    kent
    me16 8jh

    • LinkedIn
  • Canterbury Office

    First Floor
    Graylaw House
    20-22 Watling Street
    Canterbury
    Kent
    CT1 2UA

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

Kent HR
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.