What are my rights at work following bereavement?

If you’ve lost someone close to you, you may need to take some time off work while you grieve, especially if you have to organise the funeral for the person who has passed away. This is known as bereavement leave, or compassionate leave, and must be agreed with your employer.

In the UK, you have the right to time off if the deceased is classed as your dependant. This could be a spouse or partner, child, parent, or someone who relies on you. You are also entitled to bereavement leave if you have lost a child under the age of 18 or if your child is stillborn.

For any other bereavement, there is no legal right to time off. Many employers have a policy for bereavement or compassionate leave, which will be different for each employer as it is at their discretion. Most employers will be understanding, and there may be the option to use holiday leave or sick leave to take time off for bereavement if there is no policy in place.

If you have lost a child, including via stillbirth, you are entitled to 2 weeks off work. For a dependant that is not a child, the law simply states that the amount of time should be “reasonable”, so this needs to be agreed with your employer upon informing them of the bereavement, or they may state a specific amount of time in their bereavement policy.

If you feel you need more time off than you are given, you will need to discuss this with your employer, who may allow you to take more time, though it may fall under sick leave rather than bereavement leave.

Your employer is not obligated to pay for any time taken as bereavement leave, however many employers have a bereavement policy in place and may offer to pay for time taken off. Alternatively, they may ask you to use holiday time or class it as sick leave.

It is rare to be refused time off for bereavement by an employer, but as mentioned above they are not legally obligated to give you time off for the death of a non-dependant.

It is important to speak to your employer as soon as possible after a bereavement, to inform them of the circumstances as well as help to establish how long you’ll be off for. It is a good idea to familiarise yourself with your employer’s bereavement policy, should you need to use it in the future.

Thank you for reading.

You may also be interested in one of our previous articles:

How do I plan a funeral?

Do you have to pay for a child's funeral?