Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay 2026/27

Up to 2 weeks' leave and £194.32 a week SPBP (or 90% of earnings if lower) after the death of a child under 18 or a stillbirth. Check your leave and pay.

2026/27 tax year

Statutory & Parental Pay
Employee
Employer
Family & Parents
England
Scotland
Wales

If your child dies before their 18th birthday, or is stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy, you can take up to 2 weeks of Parental Bereavement Leave from your first day in the job. If you have worked for your employer for 26 weeks and earn at least the lower earnings limit (£129.00 a week, or £125.00 if the week before the week of the death ended in 2025/26), you can also get Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP) of £194.32 a week in 2026/27, or 90% of your average weekly earnings if that is lower (GOV.UK). The calculator below shows what you are entitled to. We are sorry for your loss.

Average weekly earnings before tax

Gross pay in about the 8 weeks before the week of the death, as a weekly average. Leave blank to see leave only.

Weeks you are taking 1 week 2 weeks

26 weeks' continuous employment met? Yes No

Yes if you had worked for this employer for at least 26 weeks by the end of the week (Sunday to Saturday) before the week of the death, and were still employed by them on the day of the death.

Date of the death or stillbirth (optional)

Sets which earnings limit applies: the one in force at the end of the week (Sunday to Saturday) before the week of the death. For any death up to Saturday 11 April 2026 that is the 2025/26 limit of £125.00 a week, even if you are paid now. It also checks the 56-week window. Leave blank to use the 2026/27 limit.

Enter your figures and press the button.

Who qualifies

The child must have been under 18, or stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy, and have died on or after 6 April 2020 (SSCBA 1992 s.171ZZ14(1) and s.171ZZ15; ERA 1996 s.80EE; SI 2020/249 reg 2).
You must, at the date of the death, have been the child's parent; a birth parent named in a post-adoption contact order; someone the child was placed with for adoption (while the placement had not been disrupted); an adopter from overseas with whom the child was living and who had the official notification; an intended parent who had applied, or intended to apply within 6 months of the birth, for a parental order in a surrogacy arrangement; the child's "parent in fact"; or the partner of any of these (SI 2020/249 reg 4(2); SI 2020/233 reg 4(1)).
Parent in fact means you lived with the child in your own home and had day-to-day responsibility for their care for at least 4 continuous weeks ending with the day of the death (temporary absences do not break this). It does not apply if a parent, or someone else with parental responsibility, lived in the same home, or if you were paid to care for the child. A local authority foster carer's fee or allowance, expense reimbursements and payments under a will or trust do not count as pay, so foster carers can qualify (reg 4(4) to (8) of SI 2020/249; reg 4(3) to (7) of SI 2020/233).
A partner is someone of any sex who lives with the child and the parent in an enduring family relationship, and is not the parent's parent, grandparent, sibling, aunt or uncle (SI 2020/249 reg 4(9)).
Leave: you must be an employee. It does not matter how long you have worked for your employer (GOV.UK eligibility).
Pay: 26 weeks' continuous employment with that employer ending with the relevant week, still employed by them up to the day the child died, and normal weekly earnings over the 8 weeks ending with the relevant week of at least the lower earnings limit in force at the end of the relevant week: £129.00 a week if it ended in 2026/27, and £125.00 a week if it ended in 2025/26. The relevant week is the week immediately before the week in which the child dies, and a week here runs Sunday to Saturday. Because pay can be claimed for up to 56 weeks after the death, the 2025/26 limit still applies to anyone bereaved up to Saturday 11 April 2026, whose relevant week ended on or before 4 April 2026 (SSCBA 1992 s.171ZZ6(2) and (5); s.171ZZ14(5); GOV.UK).
More than one child. If more than one child dies, you are entitled to leave and pay for each child (SI 2020/249 reg 4(10); SSCBA s.171ZZ6(6)). Each parent's entitlement is their own: both parents can take it if each qualifies.
Northern Ireland has its own scheme, and for bereavements on or after 6 April 2026 its eligibility rules differ from those on this page. See nidirect.

How the leave works

One or two weeks, together or apart. The minimum is one week. If you take two weeks they do not have to be consecutive. All of it must be taken within 56 weeks beginning with the date of the death (SI 2020/249 reg 5). A week is the number of days you normally work in a week: 2 days if you only work Mondays and Tuesdays (GOV.UK).
Notice in the first 56 days ("Period A", beginning with the date of the death): tell your employer before you would normally start work on the first day you will be off, or as soon as reasonably practicable if you cannot. You can do this on the day. After that ("Period B", to the end of the 56 weeks): at least one week's notice before the week starts (SI 2020/249 reg 6(2), (3) and (6)).
What to say. The date of the death, the date you want leave to start, and whether you are taking one week or two (reg 6(1)). Phone, voicemail, text or email is fine; it does not have to be in writing and you do not need to give proof of the death or stillbirth (GOV.UK: how to claim). If you give notice on a day you are already at work, the leave starts the next day (SI 2020/249 reg 7(2)).
Cancelling. A week starting in Period A can be cancelled up to the time you would have started work on its first day; a week starting in Period B needs one week's notice. A week that has already started cannot be cancelled (SI 2020/249 reg 6(4) and (5)).
Other leave. If you are on maternity, paternity or other statutory leave when the child dies, bereavement leave starts after that leave ends, though not necessarily straight away. If bereavement leave is interrupted by another period of statutory leave, the rest can be taken after it, in one block, still within the 56 weeks, with a fresh notice (SI 2020/249 reg 8; GOV.UK). You can take it between blocks of shared parental leave booked before the death.
After a stillbirth, parents may also be entitled to maternity, paternity and shared parental leave and pay, subject to their own eligibility rules (government consultation response, September 2026). The week-by-week picture for those payments is in the statutory pay timeline.

How much Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay is

The weekly rate is the smaller of £194.32 and 90% of your normal weekly earnings; a fraction of a penny is rounded up (SI 2020/233 reg 20). The flat rate rose from £187.18 to £194.32 on 6 April 2026 (SI 2026/148 art. 10(3)), the same weekly figure as statutory maternity, paternity, shared parental and neonatal care pay. With average earnings of about £215.91 a week or more, you get the flat rate. Pay is for up to 2 weeks: one week, two weeks together, or two separate weeks, within 56 weeks of the death (regs 5, 6 and 7).

Earnings are gross earnings from the employment, averaged over the pay days in about the 8 weeks before the week of the death. Statutory sick, maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental pay received in that period count, and a backdated pay rise covering the period is included (SI 2020/233 reg 19).
It is taxed like wages. SPBP is paid in the same way as your wages, with Income Tax and National Insurance deducted (GOV.UK).
Claiming the pay is separate from booking the leave and must be in writing (a letter, email or form): within 28 days beginning with the first day of the week you are claiming for, or as soon as reasonably practicable. Give your name, the dates you are claiming for and the date of the death, and the first time a declaration of your relationship to the child (SI 2020/233 reg 8; GOV.UK: how to claim).
No SPBP for a week in which you are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay for any part of it (SI 2020/233 reg 9(1)(a)).
Contractual pay your employer pays for the same period counts towards its SPBP liability, and SPBP counts towards contractual pay, so you get the higher of the two, not both (SSCBA s.171ZZ11).

Every statutory payment rate for the year is in statutory pay rates 2026/27. If your baby needed neonatal care before they died, see neonatal care leave and pay.

For employers

Recovering SPBP. You can recover 92% of SPBP paid, or 109% (100% plus compensation) if you qualify for Small Employers' Relief (SI 2020/246 reg 3). Small Employers' Relief applies if you paid £45,000 or less in Class 1 National Insurance, ignoring reductions such as Employment Allowance, in the last complete tax year before the week (Sunday to Saturday) before the death or stillbirth. Claim through your Employer Payment Summary (GOV.UK: get help with statutory pay). If you cannot afford the payments you can apply online for an advance, repaid through the EPS (GOV.UK employer guide).
Refusing pay. If an employee does not qualify for SPBP, tell them within 28 days of their pay request on form SPBP1 or your own equivalent. They can ask HMRC's Statutory Payments Disputes Team to decide within 6 months of the start of the pay period they claimed (GOV.UK).
Records. Keep the dates and amounts paid, the employee's written declaration, name and date of the death, and any weeks claimed but not paid and why, for 3 years from the end of the tax year they relate to. Form SPBP2 can be used (GOV.UK).
Terms and conditions other than pay continue during the leave (SI 2020/249 reg 9), including pay rises and building up holiday (GOV.UK). The employee can return to the same job after an isolated period of bereavement leave, or after a run of statutory leave of 26 weeks or less in total for the child (with no more than four weeks of parental leave in it); after a longer run, the same job or, if that is not reasonably practicable, a suitable and appropriate alternative (SI 2020/249 reg 10).
Protection. Detriment or dismissal because an employee took, or sought to take, Parental Bereavement Leave is unlawful, and a dismissal for that reason is automatically unfair (SI 2020/249 regs 12 and 13).

Running payroll for the first time? See our PAYE and RTI guide for new employers.

Bereavement leave under the Employment Rights Act 2025

Section 18 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 rewrites the bereavement leave section of the Employment Rights Act 1996 so that regulations can give a right to leave to an employee who has lost someone other than a child, or who has had a pregnancy loss before 24 weeks. For a loss other than the death of a child, the regulations must give at least one week's leave (ERA 2025 s.18, inserting s.80EA(3A) and (5A)). The new leave is unpaid: section 18 does not change Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay.

It is not in force yet. Section 18 was commenced on 6 January 2026 only for the purpose of making regulations (SI 2026/3 reg 2(9)), and when we checked legislation.gov.uk on 30 October 2026 no regulations creating the right had been made. Until they are, the only statutory bereavement leave is Parental Bereavement Leave as described on this page. In its consultation response of 22 September 2026 the government said it will make the regulations with the measures coming into force in April 2027, and that the leave will be up to two weeks, taken within 56 weeks, with no evidence requirement (GOV.UK). That is a stated plan, not law.

Worked examples

Two weeks, earning £550 a week

90% of £550 is £495.00, more than £194.32, so each week pays £194.32: £388.64 for 2 weeks before tax and NI. The employer recovers £357.55, or £423.62 with Small Employers' Relief.

Two weeks, earning £190 a week

90% of £190 is £171.00, below £194.32, so that is the weekly rate: £342.00 for 2 weeks.

Two months into a new job

The leave is a day-one right, so all 2 weeks can be taken. Without 26 weeks' service by the week before the death there is no SPBP, though the employer may pay something under its own policy.

Each figure is computed by the calculator above from the 2026/27 rates. Estimates only: your employer works out your entitlement from your actual pay dates.

Other financial help after a death

Bereavement Support Payment is a separate state benefit with its own rules, not part of your pay. Our guide to the financial steps after a death covers it alongside funeral costs, the estate and tax.

Frequently asked questions

How much is Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay in 2026/27?

£194.32 a week, or 90% of your average weekly earnings if that is lower, from 6 April 2026. It is paid through payroll, so Income Tax and National Insurance are deducted. Your employer may pay more under its own scheme.

How much Parental Bereavement Leave can I take?

Up to 2 weeks for each child who dies or is stillborn: one week, two weeks together, or two separate weeks. A week is the number of days you normally work in a week. It must be taken within 56 weeks of the date of the death or stillbirth.

Do I need to have worked for my employer for a while?

Not for the leave: Parental Bereavement Leave is a day-one right for employees. For the pay you need 26 weeks' continuous employment with that employer by the end of the week before the week of the death, to still be employed on the day of the death, and average weekly earnings of at least the lower earnings limit in force at the end of that week: £129.00 a week if it ended in 2026/27, £125.00 if it ended in 2025/26.

Who counts as a parent for bereavement leave?

Birth and adoptive parents, people the child was placed with for adoption, intended parents in a surrogacy arrangement, a person who looked after the child in their own home for at least 4 weeks before the death without being paid for it (foster carers paid a local authority fee still qualify, but not if a parent or someone with parental responsibility lived in the same home), and the partner of any of these who lived with the child.

How much notice do I need to give for Parental Bereavement Leave?

In the first 56 days after the death, notice before you would normally start work on the first day of leave, or as soon as reasonably practicable. After that, at least one week's notice. It does not have to be in writing and you do not need to provide proof of the death.

Can employers reclaim Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay?

Yes. Employers usually recover 92% from HMRC through the Employer Payment Summary, or 109% if they qualify for Small Employers' Relief by paying £45,000 or less in Class 1 National Insurance in the last complete tax year before the week before the death.