Two weeks off for bereavement – is your small business ready?

New day-one leave rights will test Britain's smallest employers

NEW BEREAVEMENT LEAVE RIGHTS

Two weeks of unpaid bereavement leave is coming in England, Scotland and Wales, from April 2027, for employees who have lost a spouse, partner, parent, adult child or sibling. The right will also apply to pregnancy loss, including miscarriage, terminations and unsuccessful IVF, and it will cover step, half, adoptive, foster and kinship care relationships. It expands who’s entitled to bereavement leave, when they can take it, and how employers must respond.

Many small and micro businesses treat their people like family and already give time off in most of these circumstances. Some already give time off when a close friend dies.  For others it will be yet another challenge because the tiny team would collapse without one member.

The rules won’t apply in Northern Ireland which has a different set of employment laws and where Statutory Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay has applied since 6 April 2026 and covers miscarriage, stillbirth, and the death of a child under 18

What’s Changing

The Employment Rights Act (December 2025) introduced a new legal right to unpaid bereavement leave from day one of employment. After consultation, the government has now confirmed:

• Up to two weeks’ unpaid leave will apply from day one in the job and cover employees who have lost spouses, partners, parents, adult children, siblings. It also Includes step, half, adoptive, foster and kinship care relationships where relatives are caring for children.

 • The right to unpaid leave will also apply to pregnancy loss, including miscarriage, terminations and failed IVF and to intended parents in surrogacy. 

The two weeks off can be taken flexibly over 56 weeks, rather than as a single block. The changes bring UK law closer to modern family structures and recognises pregnancy loss as bereavement.

Business Size Doesn’t Matter

You must allow employees the leave if they’re entitled to it. From April, if an employee loses someone and qualifies you have no choice but to allow up to two weeks’ unpaid leave. You can’t refuse it because of workload or because you don’t have anyone else to fill in.

Small businesses often operate with skeleton teams, single‑person roles, limited cover and tight deadlines so this change is likely to be very challenging for many bosses.

You need a clear bereavement policy: Many small businesses rely on informal arrangements and those have worked well. From April that won’t be enough. You will need a simple, written policy covering who is eligible, how the leave can be taken, what evidence (if any) you need from an employee, how employees can request leave, how flexible leave works over 56 weeks and how managers if there’s anyone other than you, should respond. This may feel like just more admin adding to the never-ending pile, but it will protect your business and the employees from time consuming processes and disputes.

You may face short‑notice absences. Bereavement isn’t predictable. Small businesses will probably be experienced at dealing with sudden time off, emotional conversations, disrupted rotas and delayed projects. However, having to factor in the two weeks’ leave is new and so planning ahead for flexibility now should reduce stress later.

You must treat non‑traditional families equally. The law now recognises stepfamilies, blended families, kinship carers, adoptive families, foster families and surrogacy arrangements. You and any other managers will have to understand these relationships and apply the policy consistently.

Pregnancy loss must be treated as bereavement: this includes miscarriage, termination for medical reasons, failed IVF, unsuccessful embryo transfers. Employees and their partners are entitled to leave. This is a sensitive area and there may have been cases in your workplace before that you knew nothing about, where people didn’t tell anyone at work and just got on with the job without asking for time off. From April, small businesses must respond with care and confidentiality and accept requests for unpaid leave.

Unpaid leave has a cost: the 2 weeks’ leave is unpaid, but small businesses face other costs such as lost productivity, overtime or temp costs for cover, delays to work for customers, rescheduling challenges and emotional impact on teams. Planning ahead helps reduces disruption but there’s additional admin too.

The upside is that compassionate employers keep good people. Small businesses rely heavily on loyalty and trust. Supporting employees through tough times like bereavement means employees are less likely to leave and that reduces turnover costs, builds a positive culture, improves long‑term performance and builds your reputation as being an employer of choice and a great place to work. That’s worth a lot if you’re competing for skills and talent and can’t afford the bigger salaries offered by bigger companies.

Prepare, Prepare, Prepare

Update your employee handbook with a clear bereavement leave section aligned with the new law.

Train managers so they understand who will be eligible, what the flexible leave rules mean and how to keep confidentiality and deal with sensitive communications.

Plan for cover by working out your temporary support options, ways to delay non‑urgent work and who is trained up and could step into other roles if necessary. Having people on leave can give others opportunities to step up or learn new roles and skills.

Communicate early: let people know the new rights are coming and how it will all work in your business.

Loss

The new bereavement leave rights modernise UK employment law and recognise the reality of today’s families. For small and micro businesses, the change calls for more flexibility, sensitivity and planning and that means more admin, more costs and more headaches, and longer hours, but compassion also strengthens trust, loyalty and workplace culture.

Some charities are calling for this new bereavement leave to be paid. Some small businesses may choose to offer paid days, flexible working, phased returns and wellbeing support if they can afford it. Even small gestures matter.