Grief is a universal experience. But while after a loss an immediate return to work may be healthy for some, for others it is impossible.

Under the current system for UK workers, receiving flexibility or compassion during grief is left to chance. As part of the new Employment Rights Act, the Government has set out plan to strengthen access to bereavement leave, but do proposals go far enough?

The current bereavement leave system is severely limited

Under the current system, only parents who lose a child or experience a stillbirth after 24 weeks have statutory entitlement to time off work through Parental Bereavement Leave. For other types of bereavement, many people may seek to use sick leave or holiday to grieve, which can be denied.

There are many criticisms of this minimum floor. Firstly, the ‘cliff edge’ of 24 weeks for Parental Bereavement Leave means that a parent experiencing a stillbirth at 23 weeks and six days has no statutory right to leave. In addition, the experience of grief covers a much wider range of loss than young children, such as a parent, a sibling, a close friend or partner, or a non-dependent child. Finally, Parental Bereavement Leave is paid at maximum £187.18 per week, covering less than 40% of a full-time minimum wage employee’s average weekly earnings. Those living paycheque to paycheque may be unable to take such a financial hit.

Pushing people to work while grieving risks extending the grieving process, compounding health impacts and in some cases resulting in people leaving work or dropping out of the labour market altogether. Grief has a substantial impact on the mental and physical wellbeing of those experiencing the loss, with an estimated UK cost of £23 billion a year mostly through lost productivity in the workplace. The experience of grief has a strong social dimension, meaning our natural process of grieving can be impeded if by societal rules that suggest a loss is “insignificant”, for example if deemed not worthy of bereavement leave.

Bereavement leave can contribute to healthier working lives in the same way as sick pay, which Work Foundation research has linked to greater productivity and worker retention. This recognised by many employers who offer compassionate leave policies much stronger than the minimum floor, but not all. UK workers’ access to paid bereavement leave therefore varies widely and unfairly. A 2024 Work Foundation survey of 1,167 business leaders showed around 41% of businesses already provide paid bereavement leave to their staff.

New universal bereavement leave plans are a step in the right direction but treat paid leave as a ‘perk’

The Employment Rights Act, passed in December 2025, introduces new day-one right to unpaid bereavement leave for employees who experience the loss of a loved one, including early pregnancy loss. The UK Government is currently consulting on key features of this new right, such as who should be eligible for bereavement leave, how long it should last, and procedural requirements such whether evidence is required.

The evidence supports wide eligibility for bereavement leave and aligning the new entitlement to existing Parental Bereavement Leave. This upholds the principle that how people respond to bereavement should be up to them, which in many cases will involve remaining at work and not taking up the full leave entitlement. It would also bring the UK into line with many other countries, both high- and medium-income. In 2021, New Zealand extended fully paid bereavement laws to include loss at any stage of pregnancy. Iceland offers up to six months of paid leave to parents following the death of a child, and several countries including Brazil offers leave for deaths experienced across a wide range of kinship including adoptive parents, grandparents and siblings.

However, the new right in the Employment Rights Act has a crucial difference to existing Parental Bereavement Leave and policies in other countries: it is unpaid. Current proposals fall short and treat paid leave to make necessary arrangements and grieve as a ‘perk’, instead of essential. Whilst many employers will go beyond these requirements to offer paid leave, this means despite the UK Government proposals bereavement leave provision across the UK remains a lottery.

This means many workers will be excluded from exercising this new right due to financial constraints, particularly given the opportunity to take leave will coincide with additional expenses such as funeral or care costs. This will have a disproportionate impact on the low paid and insecure workers, who are more likely to be women, workers from ethnic minority backgrounds such as Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Black African/Caribbean and Black British, or disabled.

Given everyone experiences grief during their life, all workers should have equal access to workplace protections that give them time to grieve. Expanding access to leave without addressing pay risks entrenching inequality where only some workers can afford to grieve in the way that best suits them. For employment reforms to deliver on its promises of fairer work, they must also include a roadmap to introducing equal access to paid bereavement leave as a core pillar of a healthy working life.

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