The UK Government has confirmed that employees will gain new statutory rights to time off following bereavement and pregnancy loss, with the changes due to take effect in April 2027. Announced on Tuesday 22 September 2026 as part of the Government’s Make Work Pay programme, the package is designed to create a clear legal minimum where many workers currently depend on employer discretion. For Policy Wire readers, the main point is that this is a new baseline entitlement rather than a replacement for existing enhanced workplace schemes. Ministers are framing the measure as a workplace rights reform with legal, social and operational consequences for employers across Great Britain.
The new bereavement leave right will apply when an employee loses a spouse or partner, a parent, an adult child or a sibling. The Government has also confirmed that the entitlement will extend to step, half, adoptive, kinship care and foster relationships, widening the legal definition beyond categories that have often been excluded from formal workplace policy. That matters because there is currently no general statutory right to bereavement leave in these circumstances. The reform therefore closes a recognised gap in employment protection, especially for people whose family relationships are real in practice but have not been fully reflected in law or standard HR policy.
The second change covers pregnancy loss before 24 weeks. Under the Government’s announcement, women and their partners will be entitled to up to two weeks of unpaid leave where there has been a miscarriage, a termination or an unsuccessful IVF embryo transfer. The entitlement will also apply to partners, the other biological parent and intended parents in a surrogacy arrangement. The unpaid status is a significant detail. The measure creates protected time away from work, but it does not create a statutory paid leave scheme. In policy terms, that means the reform establishes recognition in law and protection from workplace pressure, while leaving a separate debate over income support still open. That is likely to remain a live issue as regulations and guidance are developed.
The Government has said the leave will be flexible in use. Employees will be able to take it within 56 weeks of the loss and will not be restricted to a single block, meaning single days can be used where that better reflects anniversaries, inquests, medical treatment, recovery or delayed grief. The administrative rules are also intended to reduce friction at a difficult time. Where leave is taken within the first eight weeks after a bereavement, employees will need only to notify their employer as soon as reasonably practicable rather than in advance. Ministers have also said that no evidence of the loss will be required. Taken together, those provisions point to a privacy-based model built around trust, not documentary proof.
For employers, the practical effect is straightforward even if the drafting will take time to settle. Contracts, bereavement policies, pregnancy loss guidance, manager training and payroll processes will all need revision before April 2027. Because the leave is statutory, employees who use it will also be protected from detriment or dismissal for exercising the right, which gives the measure clear employment law force beyond a statement of good practice. The wider policy position is that many businesses already offer compassionate leave and in some cases paid leave. The Government’s case is that goodwill is not the same as certainty. A statutory floor sets a minimum standard for all eligible employees, including those in workplaces where support is inconsistent, unclear or absent.
The announcement follows consultation and campaigning pressure from bereaved families and pregnancy loss organisations. The Government has said that more than eight in ten employers and nine in ten business representative organisations responding to consultation supported bereavement leave following the death of an immediate family member. Miscarriage UK has welcomed the move while continuing to argue that leave for pregnancy loss should ultimately be paid. The reform also sits alongside existing Parental Bereavement Leave, which already covers parents who experience a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy or the death of a child under 18. Ministers have said the new package will be enacted through secondary legislation next year, ahead of commencement in April 2027, and it will feed into the broader review of the parental leave and pay system, including work on Hugh’s Law and support for parents of terminally ill children.