The new Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Regulations 2026 introduce a ‘day one right’ to bereaved partner’s paternity leave (BPPL) for employees who lose their child’s primary carer on or after 6 April 2026 and within the first year of their child’s life.
The primary carer can be the mother, adopter, or in surrogacy cases the primary parental order parent, and the employee must be the father of the child or a spouse or partner of the primary carer either on the adoption or bereavement date.
Employees entitled to BPPL can take a single period of leave lasting up to 52 weeks after the date of the child’s birth or adoption, for the purpose of caring for the child. Where employees wish to take leave beginning within eight weeks of the bereavement, they will be able to give notice verbally at any time before the day their leave begins. After eight weeks of the bereavement, the employee will have to give one week’s notice.
If the employee wishes to vary or cancel their leave the notice period varies between immediate (to cancel leave starting within eight weeks of the bereavement) and up to eight weeks (to vary a return date that is currently more than eight weeks after the bereavement).
The regulations fill a gap in UK legislation for bereaved partners who are not eligible for shared parental leave (SPL) either because they did not have sufficient length of service or because their deceased partner had not recently been in paid work. In many cases, bereaved employees may qualify for SPL and have no (or very limited) need for BPPL.
Employers should know:
- BPPL is a ‘day one right’, with no qualifying period
- There is no statutory pay for BPPL
- Notice can be given verbally, and leave can start immediately (in the first eight weeks)
- An employee can carry out up to ten days’ work (KIT days) during the leave without bringing the leave to an end, and reasonable contact between the employer and employee does not constitute work for this purpose
- If an employee does not give the required notice before returning to work, the employer is entitled to postpone the employee’s return to secure the required notice period
- An employee who returns after leave lasting 26 weeks or less is entitled to return to the job in which they were employed before the leave
- An employee who returns after leave lasting more than 26 weeks is entitled either to that job, or if that is not reasonably practicable then another job which is both suitable and appropriate for the employee to do in the circumstances
- If it is not practicable by reason of redundancy to continue to employ the employee, the employee is entitled to be offered a suitable and appropriate alternative with the employer, their successor, or an associated employer (where such alternative is available). This entitlement lasts throughout BPPL, and where the period of BPPL is six weeks or longer, lasts for 18 months after the birth or adoption of the child
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