Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018

The Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018 is a short Act with a practical effect: it inserts new rights into existing employment and social security legislation rather than setting out a complete stand-alone code on one page. The Act amends the Employment Rights Act 1996 to create parental bereavement leave and amends the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 to create statutory parental bereavement pay.

It also makes a wider set of linked amendments across tax, social security, pensions and employment legislation so the new leave and pay rights fit into the wider statutory system. For a business owner, the key point is that this is part of the same legal family as other statutory family-related rights. It affects not just HR policy, but also payroll, records, manager decisions and how you treat an employee during and after the leave.

This Act is relevant to employers across the UK, especially businesses with employees rather than only self-employed contractors. If you run a company with even a small team, you may need to respond quickly and sensitively when a bereaved parent asks for time away from work. That is often hardest in smaller businesses where the owner-manager, payroll contact and line manager may all be the same person.

The Act is particularly important where your business already has formal leave processes, because parental bereavement leave needs to sit properly alongside maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental leave, annual leave and sickness procedures. It is also important in shift-based workplaces, where a manager may otherwise try to solve the issue informally by swapping shifts or marking the absence under the wrong category.

The legal issue usually starts with a real-world event: an employee tells you they have suffered the death of a child and need time away from work. At that point, your business needs to recognise that this may trigger a statutory right, not just a compassionate response. The wrong first step is often to tell the employee to take holiday, go off sick, or wait until HR is back in the office.

Another trigger point is payroll. If your business offers statutory family payments, your payroll process needs to identify when statutory parental bereavement pay may be in issue. The Act also signals that related rights and protections may apply during and after the leave, because it makes linked amendments to the Employment Rights Act 1996 and other legislation. That means the leave should be recorded accurately and handled consistently.

Based on the Act itself, the core obligation is to recognise and administer the statutory framework for parental bereavement leave and, where the legal conditions are met, statutory parental bereavement pay. Because the Act works by amending existing legislation, the employer's duties do not stop at granting time off. They also connect to wider employment protections, wage treatment and payroll administration.

In practice, a small business should think in terms of systems. You need a route for employees to notify the business, a decision-maker who understands the statutory category, payroll capability for statutory payments, and records showing how the leave was treated. You should also avoid actions that cut across family-related protections, such as penalising an employee for taking the leave or misclassifying the absence in a way that affects pay or employment rights.

The Act is a reminder that statutory rights often fail in practice because the paperwork is out of date. A small business may have a compassionate leave policy, but that is not enough if it does not distinguish discretionary bereavement leave from statutory parental bereavement leave. Your staff handbook should signpost the statutory category clearly and explain who in the business handles requests.

Payroll is just as important. Because the Act inserts statutory parental bereavement pay into the wider social security and tax framework, your payroll process should be able to identify the payment correctly and keep the right records. If you outsource payroll, do not assume the bureau will spot the issue without clear instructions from you. Internal forms, absence codes and manager scripts should all line up.

Example one: a café supervisor tells the owner that they have suffered the death of a child and cannot work their next shifts. The owner should not simply mark the absence as holiday to keep the rota tidy. The better approach is to pause, identify whether statutory parental bereavement leave may apply, confirm the internal contact handling it, and make sure payroll is alerted if statutory pay may be relevant.

Example two: a design agency has a compassionate leave policy offering a few paid days at management discretion. That policy may still be useful, but it should not replace the statutory framework created by this Act. The business should check whether its discretionary policy sits on top of the statutory minimum or accidentally cuts across it.

Example three: a warehouse manager starts an attendance process soon after an employee's bereavement-related absence. Before taking action, the business should check how the leave was classified and whether family-related protections linked to the statutory leave are engaged.

The Act received Royal Assent in 2018 and the legislation.gov.uk record shows it is in force as revised legislation, with some future changes noted in the schedule. The Act itself is mainly an amending Act, so the practical rules sit in the legislation it inserts into and updates. That is why businesses should read this Act together with the current text of the amended employment and social security provisions and any relevant secondary legislation.

For day-to-day compliance, the most important related law is the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, because those are the main vehicles for the leave and pay rights. The schedule also shows linked amendments to tax, pensions, social security administration and employment legislation, which is a sign that payroll and employment protections need to be considered together rather than in isolation.