Parental Bereavement Leave

Whatever your length of service, you can take parental bereavement leave if you are the:

• Parent of a child who has passed away; or

• Partner of the child's parent, where you live in an enduring family relationship with the child who has passed away and their parent; or

• "Parent in fact" of a child who has passed away, which means that, for a continuous period of at least four weeks before the child died, you have been living with the child and had "day-to-day responsibility" for the child (but you have not been paid to look after the child);

• "Intended parent" of a child who has passed away, i.e. a parent using a surrogate;

• "Natural parent" of a child who has passed away who is named in a court order, i.e. where a court orders some contact for an adopted child's birth parent; or

• Adopter of a child who has passed away.

In addition to the above list, if you or your partner have sadly lost a baby after the point of 24 weeks pregnancy then you will also be entitled to parental bereavement leave. Parental bereavement leave is in addition to your maternity or paternity leave and is usually taken after maternity and paternity leave have been taken. This leave must be taken by the 56^th week after the date of the loss of the baby.

For each child who has passed away, you can take one or two weeks' parental bereavement leave.

Parental bereavement leave is not available as individual days.

You can take the leave as:

• A single block of two weeks; or

• Two separate blocks of one week at different times.

The leave must be taken within 56 weeks of the date of the death of your child.

We recognise that, as a bereaved parent, you may need some flexibility as to when you take the leave. For example, you may:

• Wish to take leave around the first anniversary of your child's death or at another particular time that is special, such as your child's birthday; or

• Already be on another type of leave, such as maternity leave or sickness absence.

Informal notification, such as a phone call or email, is sufficient to take parental bereavement leave.

If you intend to take parental bereavement leave within the first 56 days after your child's death, you can take the leave straightaway. You do not have to provide a period of notice. This means that you can begin parental bereavement leave by letting your Line Manager know no later than when you are due to start work or, if that is not feasible, as soon as is reasonably practicable.

If you intend to take parental bereavement leave more than 56 days after your child's death, you have to give your Line Manager at least one week's notice of your intention to take parental bereavement leave.

If you have asked to begin parental bereavement leave within the first 56 days of the date of your child's death, you can cancel your parental bereavement leave, as long as you let your Line Manager know before you would have been due to start work.

If you have asked to begin parental bereavement leave more than 56 days after your child's death, you can cancel your parental bereavement leave, as long as you let your Line Manager know at least one week in advance.

To be eligible for statutory bereavement leave pay whilst on parental bereavement leave, you are required to have:

• At least 26 weeks' continuous employment with KGH by the week before the week in which the child passes away, and still be employed by KGH on the day on which the child passed away; and

• Normal weekly earnings in the eight weeks up to the week before the child's death that are no less than the lower earnings limit for national insurance contribution purposes.

If you take parental bereavement leave and qualify for statutory parental bereavement pay, you will be paid at the rate set by the Government for the relevant tax year, or 90% of your average weekly earnings where this figure is lower than the Government's set weekly rate.

If you are not eligible for statutory parental bereavement pay, your leave will be unpaid.

If you are eligible, you will receive parental bereavement pay in the same way as your wages and Tax and National Insurance will be deducted.

You must give us notice of the weeks during which you wish to claim statutory parental bereavement pay. You must normally give the notice within 28 days of the first day for which you are claiming statutory parental bereavement pay. However, if that is not feasible, you can provide the notice as soon as is reasonably practicable.

At the same time as you give notice, you need to provide evidence of entitlement to this pay. To ensure that we can pay you, your Line Manager will ask you to sign and return a form.

Whilst you are on parental bereavement leave, you will remain on your normal terms and conditions of employment, except your salary.

If you take parental bereavement leave, you will return to the same position you held before commencing leave on the same terms and conditions, if the period of leave, when added to any other period of statutory leave in relation to the same child, is 26 weeks or less. The other periods of statutory leave are usually maternity leave, paternity leave, adoption leave or shared parental leave.

If the period of leave taken is more than 26 weeks when added to other periods of statutory leave taken in relation to the same child, we will ensure you return to another job that is suitable and appropriate for you.