Summary
On 13th January 2026 the draft Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave Regulations 2026 were laid before Parliament to provide for up to 52 weeks’ paternity leave (to be known as bereaved partner’s paternity leave) in situations where the child’s mother or adopter has died in childbirth or within a year of the birth or adoption placement. The regulations require the approval of both Houses of Parliament and are intended to apply to bereavements on or after 6 April 2026.
The regulations set out the conditions for entitlement, notice requirements for specifying dates of leave (which can be varied or cancelled by the employee), and employment protection measures such as preservation of contractual terms, the right to return, redundancy protection, KIT days and protection from detriment and dismissal. There is no provision for statutory pay, therefore, the right to leave is unpaid.
Death of primary carer
BPPL will be available where the child’s “primary carer” has died (regulation 4(1)(a)). The primary carer can be:
- In birth cases, the mother.
- In adoption cases (including adoptions from overseas), the child’s adopter, or in cases of joint adoption, the parent who has elected to be the adopter for the purposes of adoption leave.
- In surrogacy cases (known as parental order cases), the child’s primary parental order parent (which in practice will include a parent who has elected to take adoption leave following the birth).
(Regulation 3.)
Relationship to child or primary carer
BPPL will be available to an employee who has the necessary relationship to the primary carer who has died. This means:
- In a birth case, either the child’s father or the spouse, civil partner or partner of the child’s mother at the bereavement date.
- In a domestic adoption case, the spouse, civil partner or partner of the child’s adopter, either on the placement date or bereavement date.
- In an overseas adoption case, the spouse, civil partner or partner of the child’s adopter, either on the date of official notification or the bereavement date.
- In a parental order case, the spouse, civil partner or partner of the primary parental order parent, either on the date of birth or the bereavement date.
(Regulation 4.)
The employee must also have the main responsibility for the child’s upbringing and be taking the BPPL to care for the child. In parental order cases they must also have applied or intend to apply to the court for a parental order.
Extent of leave entitlement
An eligible employee is entitled to a single period of BPPL. It can only start after the bereavement and must start and end within the “paternity leave eligibility period”, which is a period of 52 weeks starting with the day after the date of birth or adoption placement (regulation 5). Within those parameters, the start and end dates and the length of leave can be chosen by the employee.
If the bereavement date is less than 14 days before the end of the paternity leave eligibility period, the period is extended to allow up to 14 days of BPPL (regulation 5(6)).
Notice to take BPPL
The employee must give the employer notice of intention to take BPPL.
Where BPPL is to start within eight weeks of the bereavement, notice can be given orally or in writing, and leave can start immediately (provided notice is given before the employee is due to start work on the first day of leave) (regulation 6(2)(a) and (3)(a)). The employee must give the bereavement date, the date of birth or adoption placement, and the BPPL start date. They must then confirm in writing the amount of leave they want to take and the intended return-to-work date. This confirmation must be given no more than eight weeks after the bereavement and at least one week before the return date. If the return date is more than eight weeks after the bereavement, this written notice must also confirm the date of birth or adoption placement, and contain a declaration that the employee meets the necessary relationship condition and is taking leave to care for the child.
Where the employee wants to start BPPL more than eight weeks after the bereavement, they must give the employer at least a week’s notice in writing, containing all of the above information including the declaration (regulation 6(2) and (3)(b)).
There are provisions in regulation 7 allowing the employee to change the BPPL start and end dates by notifying new dates, giving one week’s notice (or in some circumstances eight weeks’ notice). This means they can potentially shorten or extend their leave once it has started. They can also cancel BPPL in writing by giving the same minimum period of notice as applied in relation to booking the leave.
Employment protection measures
The BPPL Regulations provide similar employment protection measures to other forms of family-related statutory leave. These include:
- Preservation of terms and conditions (except remuneration).
- Protection of pension contributions in relation to any paid period of leave.
- Up to ten keeping-in-touch days.
- Entitlement to return to the same job (or, in limited circumstances, a suitable and appropriate alternative).
- The right to be offered a suitable alternative in redundancy situations up to 18 months after the birth or adoption placement.
- Protection from detriment and automatic unfair dismissal.
- Exclusion of weeks of BPPL from the calculation of a week’s pay for statutory purposes.
(Regulations 10-17.)
The Government press release is here:-
Stronger parental leave rights to give millions of working families the “security they deserve” – GOV.UK
