Parental bereavement leave

You can take paid parental bereavement leave if your child under 18 years old has died and you had parental responsibility for them.  

Examples of parental responsibility 

You can take paid parental bereavement leave if you’re the child’s:  

• birth or adopted parent  
• parent's partner and you live with them 
• parent in fact (responsible for a child’s daily care for at least 4 weeks before they died, for example as a foster carer)  
• intended parent (for example, pre-adoption or a parent using a surrogate) 
• the 'natural parent' of a child who has passed away who is named in a court order, for example, where a court orders some contact for an adopted child's birth parent

If your child is over 18 years old and they have died, you can ask to take bereavement leave.

Pregnancy loss, stillbirth and neonatal death

You can take paid leave if your baby dies at any stage of pregnancy, during or shortly after birth. You can find out more about the support available if you experience pregnancy loss, stillbirth or neonatal death. 

Leave and pay  

You can take up to 2 weeks’ paid parental bereavement leave as either:  

• 2 weeks together 
• 2 separate weeks of leave 
• only one week of leave, if you choose 

A week is the same number of days that you normally work in a week. You must take the leave within 56 weeks of your child’s death.

You can take paid parental bereavement leave on top of other family leave you’re entitled to (for example maternity, adoption, shared parental and paternity leave).  

If you’ve lost more than one child, you can take 2 weeks’ paid bereavement leave per child.

Taking parental bereavement leave 

You can take parental bereavement leave immediately.  

Contact your manager to let them know and they will record it in My Oracle as 'parental bereavement leave'. You can ask a family member, friend or partner to contact your manager if you prefer.   

It’s helpful to let your manager know:  

• when you want the leave to start 
• how much time you think that you will need initially (you can ask for more time off later)  
• how you'd like to be in contact while you're off, for example if phone or email is best  
• how often you want to be in touch 
• if you want others at work to know, and if they can contact you 
• if you need any information or support 

It’s up to you how much you tell your manager about your child’s death and whether you want other people at work to know.  

If you need more time off  

You can also take 2 more weeks’ paid bereavement leave either straight after your parental bereavement leave or at another time.  

If you need more time off work, talk to your manager about other types of absence that may be suitable until you feel ready to return to work, such as booking annual leave or taking sick leave.

Support for your return to work 

Reasonable adjustments 

Before you return to work, your manager should ask if you will need any workplace adjustments (for example, a phased return to work, earlier start and finish times, sensitive allocation of work tasks or projects, reducing your hours temporarily).  

Counselling and emotional support

Whatever your situation and no matter what you’re feeling or going through, we offer a range of support options and can help you find someone you can talk to.

Further information

You can find out more in our guidance on parental bereavement leave.