Losing a loved one is a difficult reality that some of your employees may face while working for you. During such challenging times, individuals require time off to grieve, arrange and attend funerals, and take care of other important matters.
This period of absence, commonly known as bereavement leave or compassionate leave, is crucial for providing support to your employees. The duration of bereavement leave is at your discretion as an employer.
This guide aims to help you understand how to offer compassionate leave and address common questions such as the length of compassionate leave and whether it should be paid.
Entitlement to Compassionate Leave
In the UK, there is currently no legal obligation to provide bereavement leave to staff. Statutory bereavement leave or a similar provision does not exist.
However, there are no restrictions preventing offering compassionate leave, whether paid or unpaid, to employees. Your employer can include compassionate leave entitlement in your employment contract.
Payment for Compassionate Leave
In order to know if you are entitled to compassionate leave you need to check your contract, it is important to determine whether employees will receive payment during their time off, you should see this in the contract too.
For example, your policy might specify five days of paid compassionate leave per year.
If an employee exhausts their allocated compassionate leave but requires additional time off, it may be that an employee will consider or grant further compassionate leave. You will need to speak to your employer about this. Whether additional paid leave is provided is at the discretion of the employer, but it is recommend maintaining consistency among employees to avoid discrimination so speak to your employer for more information.
Distinguishing Between Bereavement Leave and Compassionate Leave
Although these terms are often used interchangeably, it is important to differentiate between them and it should be shown as such in your policies or contracts.
Bereavement leave specifically refers to time off following the death of a loved one.
Compassionate leave, on the other hand, can encompass time off to care for dependents or attend to sick relatives as well.
Despite this distinction, there is currently no statutory entitlement to compassionate leave in the UK. The decision to provide compassionate leave remains within your employers discretion.
Preparing for Bereavement Leave Requests
As an employee, it is essential to be prepared for needing time off as a result of loss or death. You may have some advanced notice that death is a possibility and you may need time off due to the loss of a loved one.