Parental Bereavement Leave Policy
About This Policy
Employees who are unfortunate enough to suffer the death of a child under 18 or a stillbirth after 24 weeks' of pregnancy have the right to a period of Parental Bereavement Leave.
The right applies to deaths or stillbirths on or after 6 April 2020.
This policy applies to all employees who are the parents of the child who has died, this includes an adoptive parent, prospective adopter, intended parent under a surrogacy arrangement, a parent "in fact" (someone looking after the child in that person's own home for the last four weeks), or that person's partners, but not a paid carer. This policy does not apply to agency workers, consultants or self-employed contractors.
This policy does not form part of any employee's contract of employment and we may amend it at any time.
Entitlement
Your right to parental bereavement leave commences on the first day of your employment with us.
Parental bereavement leave is a period of one or two weeks' leave that may be taken at any time within 56 weeks of the death of a child. In the case of a stillbirth, the date of death is taken to be the date the child is stillborn.
The leave may be taken as:
- One whole week
- Two whole weeks
- Two separate weeks at different times
A "week" for these purposes is a seven-day period starting on any day.
Where more than one child has died or been stillborn, you will be entitled to a separate period of leave in relation to each child.
We may exercise our discretion to grant a further period of parental bereavement leave in addition to the statutory period, depending on the circumstances of each case.
Requesting Parental Bereavement Leave
You should make a request to a Doza Director. You should tell them the reasons for your request and the number of weeks' leave you would like to take. You should also confirm the date of your child's death.
If you want to take leave within the first 56 days starting with the date of death you must notify a Doza Director before your normal start time on the day you would like your leave to start. If you have already started work but give notice to start parental bereavement leave on the same day, then the leave will officially start the following day.
If you want to take leave after the first 56 days following your child's death, you must give at least 7 days' notice of your intention to take parental bereavement leave.
If you wish to cancel or change the date of leave you can do so with the same notice set out at the second and third paragraph.
A period of leave cannot be cancelled once it has started.
Terms and Conditions
During parental bereavement leave, your terms and conditions will be identical to those during paternity, maternity, adoption or shared parental leave and you are bound by all of your contractual obligations except those which are inconsistent with being on leave.
Right to Return
In most cases, following your return to work from parental bereavement leave, you will have the right to return the job which you were employed in before your absence.
If you take parental bereavement leave consecutively with a period of parental leave of more than four weeks; or other statutory family-related leave taken in relation to the same child where the total amount of statutory leave taken in relation to that child is more than 26 weeks, your right remains to return to the same job but if it is not reasonably practicable to do so, you have the right to return to another job which is both suitable and appropriate for you to do in the circumstances.
Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP)
Employees taking parental bereavement leave may also be entitled to statutory parental bereavement pay (SPBP) if they meet with the statutory eligibility criteria and provide the relevant notifications and advice.
SPBP can be taken in periods of one week, two consecutive weeks or two separate weeks.
SPBP is paid at the same rate as other statutory payments such as paternity pay.
Where an eligible employee has lost more than one child, SPBP is payable in respect of each child. This reflects the fact that there is a separate right to two weeks' leave in respect of each child.
To be eligible for SPBP an employee must:
- Be a "bereaved parent"
- Be in employed earner's employment with the same employer for a continuous period of at least 26 weeks ending with a "relevant week" (which is the week before the child died, where a week runs from Sunday to Saturday)
- Remain in that employment at least until the day the child died
- Have received normal weekly earnings for the period of 8 weeks ending with the relevant week that are not less than the lower earning limit in force at the end of the relevant week.
If you would like any further information about parental bereavement leave or SPBP, please speak to a Doza Director.