Overview
The government has confirmed several changes to statutory paternity leave in bereavement scenarios, with some provisions already in force and further changes due to apply from April 2026.
From December 2025, the 26-week qualifying service requirement for statutory paternity leave has been removed where the child’s mother or adopter dies in childbirth or within the first year. This means eligible fathers and partners can take statutory paternity leave in these circumstances, regardless of length of service.
From April 2026, further changes are expected to introduce a new statutory entitlement to Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave. This is intended to provide additional time away from work following the death of a child’s primary carer, addressing a long-recognised gap in existing legislation.
At the time of writing, detailed operational guidance and final payroll treatment for the April 2026 entitlement have not yet been fully confirmed. Employers should begin considering how bereavement-related absences will be managed within their existing policies and systems ahead of these changes taking effect.
Further Guidance:
Fourth’s Position and Response
Fourth acknowledges both the December 2025 change and the forthcoming April 2026 statutory entitlement, and recognises the importance of supporting employers and employees through sensitive situations such as bereavement.
From 29th December 2025, the 26-week qualifying service requirement for statutory paternity leave no longer applies where the child’s mother or adopter dies in childbirth or within the first year. In practice, this means that WFM UK (Payroll module) can allow paternity leave to be taken in these scenarios, even if the employee would not otherwise meet the service requirement. This can be done by overriding an employee's entitlement (where being excluded).
For the new Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave entitlement due in April 2026, Fourth will not have dedicated, bespoke functionality available at launch, as we do for other statutory leave entitlements.
However, customers can manage this leave today using the existing Absence Type functionality. A dedicated absence type can be created to represent bereaved partner paternity leave and configured so that:
The employee is recorded as absent from work for the relevant period
The employee is validated and cannot be scheduled to work during the absence
No statutory or contractual pay, such as sick pay, is automatically triggered unless required by the employer’s own policy
This approach ensures operational compliance and accurate absence recording, while retaining flexibility over any pay treatment that may apply.
Fourth will continue to monitor legislative developments and customer feedback, reviewing whether dedicated functionality is required once full guidance and adoption requirements are confirmed.
Bereaved Partners Paternity Leave
What we know
A new statutory right will apply from April 2026 for bereaved partners to take paternity leave where their partner dies shortly after childbirth
The entitlement will apply as a day-one right, with no minimum length of service required
The change is intended to close a gap where bereaved partners previously had no clear statutory paternity entitlement
The leave will be available regardless of whether the employee would otherwise qualify for standard paternity leave
Statutory pay treatment has not yet been fully confirmed and is expected to be unpaid by default
Detailed operational guidance and final regulations are still awaited at the time of writing
Entitlement
An employee is entitled to bereaved partner’s paternity leave where the child’s primary carer dies, and the employee meets the qualifying relationship conditions
Eligibility applies across birth, domestic adoption, overseas adoption, and parental order cases
Qualifying employees include the child’s father or a partner, spouse, or civil partner of the child’s primary carer
The employee must have the main responsibility for the upbringing of the child
In parental order cases, the employee must have been granted, or intend to apply for, a parental order
Entitlement is unaffected by multiple births or multiple children placed or adopted as part of the same arrangement
Eligible employees may take a single continuous period of bereaved partner’s paternity leave of up to 52 weeks
Leave can only be taken after the bereavement date and within the defined paternity leave eligibility period
The eligibility period generally runs for 52 weeks from birth, placement, or entry into Great Britain, depending on the case
If the bereavement occurs close to the end of the eligibility window, the period is extended to allow at least 14 days after the bereavement
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