Compassionate Leave
Introduce Compassionate Leave for all Workers
Compassionate Leave is currently only available to parents following the death of a child under the age of 18 or after experiencing a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy. The intention is to remove parental from the existing legislation and make Compassionate Leave a day one right for all workers who experience the death of a family member.
This page was first published on 21 August 2024, the latest update was on 5 July 2025.
The Current Entitlement
Since April 2024 when a baby is stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy or a child under 18 dies the parents have been entitled to take 2 weeks of paid bereavement leave. The rate of payment is the same as for other types of Statutory Family Friendly Leave.
Proposed Changes
The original intention was to extend the existing (parental bereavement leave and pay) legislation to make compassionate leave a day one right for all.
The Bill refers to a qualifying relationship between the employee and the person who has died. This is not defined as yet but is likely to mirror the relationship requirements used in the Time of For Dependents and Carers Leave Acts.
The regulations will also set out the length of leave, which must be a minimum of one week (it will remain two weeks where a child under the age of 18 has died) and that the period of time that the leave must be taken in must extend to at least 56 days after the person’s death.
It is expected that compassionate leave will have a statutory pay element attached to it, but we don’t know yet what this will look like.
Miscarriages
The government has announced plans to make further amendments to Compassionate Leave measures so that Mothers and their partners would be entitled to time off work to grieve if they experience a miscarriage before 24 weeks of pregnancy. This amendment would mean those who experience miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, medical termination, unsuccessful IVF embryo transfer or other forms of early loss would be guaranteed time off.
MPs sitting on the Women and Equalities Committee (WEC), led by Sarah Owen MP, have lobbied for bereavement leave to be added to the Employment Rights Bill. The WEC concluded that sick leave is an “inappropriate and inadequate” form of employer support in the aftermath of a miscarriage or pregnancy loss as it does not afford women adequate confidentiality or dignity and puts them at high risk of employment discrimination. The low rate of Statutory Sick Pay, it added, means that many women and their partners simply cannot afford to take the time off they need, putting their wellbeing and future work prospects at risk.
Implementation Of The New Statutory Right To Compassionate Leave
The Employment Rights Bill Delivery Roadmap states the new statutory right to compassionate leave will be introduced in 2027, with consultation expected in autumn 2025.
Top Tips
This could have significant impact on employers who limit compassionate leave to unpaid leave. Many of my clients offer one or two days to deal with the initial shock and the funeral and up to five days if the employee is arranging the funeral. But for most of those the official message is leave is unpaid and then they apply discretion depending on the length of service of the employee and the relationship with the deceased. A jump to one week of paid leave per situation is a big jump, especially for something which could be easily open to abuse.
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