Employment Rights Act 2025

The Employment Rights Act 2025 makes changes to paternity, parental and bereavement leave

Unpaid parental leave

Currently, employees with one year’s service have a right to take up to four weeks’ unpaid parental leave per year in respect of children under the age of 18 (up to a maximum of 18 weeks’ leave in total).

The Act removes the service requirement and makes unpaid parental leave a Day 1 right from April 2026.

Paternity leave

Currently, employees with 26 weeks’ service ending with the week immediately before the 14^th week before the expected week of childbirth (or the week in which an adopter is notified of a match) have a right to take up to two weeks’ paternity leave. The same service requirement applies in respect of eligibility for statutory paternity pay.

The Act removes the service requirement for paternity leave, making it a Day 1 right from April 2026.

In addition, currently where an employee is entitled to paternity leave and pay and shared parental leave and pay, the paternity leave and pay must be taken before the shared parental leave and pay. If the employee takes the shared parental leave and pay first, they lose their entitlement to paternity leave and pay.

The Act removes this restriction, meaning that employees may take shared parental leave and pay first if they wish and retain their entitlement to paternity leave and pay.

Bereavement leave

Currently, employees have a Day 1 employment right to take two weeks’ bereavement leave if a child under the age of 18 dies (and those with 26 weeks’ service ending with the week before the child died are also entitled to receive statutory parental bereavement pay). Employees taking parental bereavement leave are also protected from detriment and dismissal. However, there is no legal right to take bereavement leave outside of this, for example when a spouse or sibling dies.

The Act amends the parental bereavement leave rules to turn ‘parental bereavement leave’ into ‘bereavement leave’, although some special rules will still apply where a child dies. The right to such bereavement leave will also be extended to parents who experience miscarriages, i.e. where the loss occurs before 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Regulations will specify the relationships which will entitle an employee to take bereavement leave. The Act says that the bereavement leave entitlement must be not less than one week but the leave entitlement will stay at two weeks’ where a child has died.

A consultation paper considers questions of eligibility for bereavement leave, its duration and when it should be taken, and any notice and evidential requirements that might be applied.