Statutory Pay and Leave
Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill approved by Parliament 17 September 2018
The Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018 creates a statutory right to time off work for employed parents, with pay where eligibility requirements are met, following the loss of a child.
The Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill has received Royal Assent and will give all employed parents a day- one statutory right to 2 weeks of leave if they lose a child under the age of 18, or suffer a stillbirth from 24 weeks of pregnancy. Parents will be entitled to this leave irrespective of their length of service with their employer and the entitlement will apply in respect of each child. Pay will be subject to qualifying conditions as found with other similar periods of statutory pay aimed at the working parent.
This is the first law of its kind in the UK and it will support those affected by the tragedy of childhood mortality. The statutory right is expected to come into force in 2020.
The Labour Market Directorate within the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy published a consultation in April 2018 to gather views and opinions on the delivery of Parental Bereavement Pay and Leave. The consultation focused on several key areas of detail including:
The definition of a ‘bereaved parent’
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• How and when to take Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay • Notice periods for Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay • Evidence of an employee’s right to take Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay.
Geographical extent: The Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay measures apply to Great Britain only.
CIPP comment The responses to this consultation are still being analysed by government, but as we stressed in our response to BEIS, it is vital that this statutory right is supported by clear, comprehensive and timely guidance. The Policy team will continue to work with BEIS and will look forward to reviewing draft guidance when it becomes available. The CIPP surveyed members and the wider profession to help inform our response to the consultation, full details of which can be found on our website under My CIPP/policy hub. If members have any questions or concerns regarding the implementation of Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay which was not raised within our survey results and associated response, please do email us at policy and we shall continue to feed in your comments to the Statutory Payment Consultation Group.
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Parental bereavement leave and pay – government response 6 November 2018
The Government has published its response to the parental bereavement leave and pay consultation which confirms key aspects of the policy to be set in regulations.
As a result of the responses received, government has taken the following decisions: • the policy will use a broad definition of a ‘bereaved parent’ centred on the notion of ‘primary carer’, with the guiding principle being that the relationship should be parental in nature • parental bereavement leave and pay can be taken as a single block, or as 2 separate weeks • employed parents will have a window of 56 weeks to use the entitlement
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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