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Parental Bereavement Leave

The Family Leave Policies encompasses a wide range of policies, including the employee benefits, obligations and arrangements for Parental Bereavement Leave. This page details the provisions for time off and pay entitlements an employee is able to access following the death of a child.

Link to Parental Bereavement Policy

Benefits and Obligations

There are certain employee benefits and employer and employee obligations which apply across all Family Leave Policies. 

Please see the Family Leave Policies - Benefits and Obligations page for more information. 


Definitions

Please see the Family Leave Policies - Definitions page for a full list of definitions applicable to all included policies.


Contents

Parental Bereavement leave is time off work to deal with personal grief and the related practical arrangements following the death of a child under the age of 18 or stillborn after 24 weeks’ pregnancy.

Bereavement is a unique and traumatic event and people react and cope in very different ways. ESC aims to assist colleagues who are grieving by providing support and signposting internal and external resources.

Available support resources:

 

 

Qualifying for Parental Bereavement Leave 

Parental Bereavement Leave will be available to an employee who is one of the following to a child who has died under the age of 18 or still born after 24 weeks’ pregnancy:

  • biological parent
  • adoptive parent, if the child was living with them
  • person who lived with the child and had responsibility for them, for at least 4 weeks before they died
  • 'intended parent' – due to become the legal parent through surrogacy
  • partner of the child’s parent, if they live with the child and the child's parent in an enduring family relationship

Eligible employees will be entitled to choose to take one single week, two single weeks, or two consecutive weeks’ Parental Bereavement Leave (not odd days). The leave must end within 56 weeks of the child’s death. 

Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay

Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay is paid for two weeks and is at the rate of 90% of the employee’s earnings or the statutory level whichever is the lower. 

It will be paid to any employee who meets the following qualifying criteria:

  • their child dies under the age of 18 or is stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy
  • they were employed by ESC when their child died
  • they'd worked for ESC for at least 26 weeks, on the Saturday before the child's death

Employees who have average weekly earnings below the Lower Earnings Limit for National Insurance Contributions will not qualify for Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay. Advice should be sought from the Corporate Services Team in such circumstances. 

Notifying ESC

Giving notice to take leave          

To give notice, the employee should notify ESC:

  • when they want the leave to start
  • whether they want to take 1 single week, 2 singles weeks or 2 consecutive weeks leave
  • the date their child died

Notice does NOT need to be in writing.

If the employee wants to take the leave within 8 weeks (56 days) of their child dying, they can start their leave as soon as they give notice.  They should inform their line manager before they start their leave but this can be on the first day of leave as long as it’s before they’re due to start work. For example, if they’ve started work and give notice to start their leave straight away, Statutory Parental Bereavement Leave must start the following day.

They can also cancel the leave, as long as they tell their manager before their leave starts. This can be on the day their leave is due to start, as long it's before they’re usually due to start work. Any cancelled leave can be taken later by giving notice again.

If the employee wants to take the leave more than 8 weeks (56 days) since their child died, they must give their line manager one week’s notice to either take the leave or cancel the leave. Any cancelled leave can be taken later by giving notice again.

            

Claiming Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay

Employees must ask their line manager in writing (give 'notice') to receive Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay. They must confirm:

  • their name
  • their entitlement to Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay
  • the start and end dates of the leave they want to claim the pay for
  • the date of their child's death
  • their relationship with the child

Notice must be given within 28 days of starting leave. If someone takes the 2 weeks off separately, they must give notice in writing for each week.

Employees can give notice for their leave and pay in one document.

If an employee is sick when they plan to take their Parental Bereavement Leave, the Parental Bereavement Leave will be postponed.  The 56-week period in which to take Parental Bereavement Leave will not be extended.  If the employee is unable to return to work following Parental Bereavement Leave due to sickness the normal sick absence rules will apply.

Employees will also be able to request to take time off under the special leave policy and the Time off for Dependants policy. Please refer to the Special Leave Policy and the Time off for Dependants Leave page for further information.

A full policy Impact Assessment and details of policy version control can be found within the Family Leave Policies  page.