Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay and Leave: employer guide

Eligibility

To qualify for Parental Bereavement Leave and Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay, an employee must meet the criteria both as a parent (including if they had day to day responsibility) and an employee. They might not be eligible for both.

If the employee was the child’s parent or the parent’s partner

An employee will be eligible if, at the time of the child’s death or stillbirth, they were:

the child’s or baby’s parent - either biological, adoptive or parent of a child born to a surrogate
the partner of the child’s or baby’s parent

Biological parents are not eligible once an adoption or parental order has been made unless there was a contact order in place after the adoption.

If the employee was not the child’s parent but had day to day responsibility for the child

An employee may be eligible if they or their partner had:

the child or baby living with them at their home for 4 continuous weeks, ending with the date of the death
day to day responsibility for the child or baby’s care during that time

If the employee or their partner was paid to look after the child, they’re not entitled to leave or pay unless they were:

a foster parent paid a fee or allowance by a local council
reimbursed for expenses to do with the care of the child or baby
getting payments under the terms of a will or trust for the child or baby’s care

An employee is not eligible if one of the child or baby’s parents or someone who had parental responsibility (parental responsibilities in Scotland) for the child was also living in the household.

If the employee was an adoptive parent

If they or their partner was an adoptive parent, an employee is eligible:

after the adoption order was granted
before the adoption order was granted, if the child was placed with them for adoption and the placement was not disrupted (for example, being temporarily placed elsewhere) or stopped

If the employee was an adoptive parent of a child from outside the United Kingdom

If the employee or their partner was adopting a child from outside the United Kingdom and the court order had not yet been made, they may still be eligible. Both of the following must apply:

the child was living with them after entering the United Kingdom
they have the ‘official notification’ confirming they were allowed to adopt

If the employee had a baby with the help of a surrogate parent

If they or their partner were a parent of a child born to a surrogate, an employee is eligible:

after a parental order was made
before a parental order was made if they had applied or intended to apply for a parental order within 6 months of the child’s birth and expected it to be granted

Parental Bereavement Leave

To get Parental Bereavement Leave, the employee must also:

be classed as an employee - it does not matter how long they’ve worked for you
give you the correct notice for Parental Bereavement Leave