PARENTAL LEAVE - 27.04.2022

Statutory parental bereavement leave

New regulations

On 6 April 2022 the Parental Bereavement Leave Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2022 and the Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2022 came into force in Northern Ireland (NI).

These Regulations, which grant eligible working parents in Northern Ireland a right to statutory parental bereavement leave (SPBL) and statutory parental bereavement pay (SPBP), mirror existing legislation which has applied in England, Wales and Scotland since 6 April 2020.

A legislative recap

How much SPBL and SPBP are eligible employees in the UK entitled to receive?

With regards to SPBL, eligible employees may take one or two whole weeks off work where they:

• lose a child under the age of 18; or
• suffer a stillbirth from 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Who is eligible for SPBL?

An employee will be entitled to take a period of SPBL if they are either:

• the child’s parent - this includes adoptive parents, prospective adopters, intended parents under a surrogacy arrangement or someone who has lived with the child in their own home and had day-to-day responsibility for their care for at least the last four weeks ending with the date of death; or
• the parent’s partner (including same sex partners) who lives with the child and the parent in an enduring family relationship.

Day one right

Relatives, e.g. grandparents and siblings, and paid carers are not entitled to SPBL.

There’s no minimum length of service requirement before an employee can take SPBL - it is a day one right. Where more than one child dies, e.g. twins, the employee will be entitled to take SPBL in respect of each one.

SPBL can be one week, two consecutive weeks or two separate single weeks. It may start on any day of the week and can be taken at any time within the period of 56 weeks beginning with the date of the child’s death.

Pay entitlement

Whilst SPBL is a day one statutory right, only those employees who have at least 26 weeks’ continuous service and average weekly earnings of not less than the lower earnings limit (£123.00 p.w. for 2022/23) qualify for SPBP.

For 2022/23 SPBP is the lower of £156.66 p.w. or 90% of average weekly earnings. Some employers choose to pay in excess of this statutory amount, e.g. the employee’s normal salary.

Tip. You can set out the SPBL and SPBP rules in a parental bereavement leave policy (see The next step ). If you grant leave or pay in excess of the statutory minimum, those details should be included in the policy too.

For a parental bereavement leave policy, visit https://www.tips-and-advice.co.uk , Download Zone, year 23, issue 09.