A new right, in force since April 2026, for partners bereaved in their child’s first year. Work out how many weeks you have — and what you should claim now.
Weeks since the birth, or since the child was placed with you for adoption. This is what the leave is measured against.
The right covers the child’s father, and the spouse, civil partner or partner of the mother or primary adopter. You also need to have main responsibility for the child now.
| Unpaid leave | Pay forgone | After tax and NI |
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If your partner died during childbirth, or within the first year of your child’s birth or adoption placement, you have a right to up to 52 weeks of leave to care for your child. It is a day-one right with no qualifying service whatsoever, your employer cannot refuse it, and it applies to deaths on or after 6 April 2026.
The right comes from the Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave Regulations 2026, built on the Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024. Before it existed there was no dedicated entitlement for this situation at all, and a bereaved father or partner had to assemble something from two weeks of paternity leave, whatever shared parental leave they could salvage, and their employer’s goodwill.
The entitlement is 52 weeks less your child’s age at the date of the death. A death during childbirth gives the full 52 weeks; a death when your child was 20 weeks old gives 32.
The part that catches people is what happens next. All of the leave has to be taken within 52 weeks of the birth — not within 52 weeks of the death. So the window continues to close whether or not you have started, and every week that passes is a week that cannot be recovered. It is also taken as one continuous block, so it cannot be spread out across the year.
The practical answer is to give notice early even if you have decided nothing. Within eight weeks of the death the leave can start immediately on notice given before your working day; after that it is one week’s written notice. Either way you can vary the dates or cancel later on the same terms — so telling your employer now protects the weeks without committing you.
This is the right’s biggest limitation and the thing worth being clear about: there is no statutory bereaved partner’s pay. The leave is entirely unpaid. Employers may pay on compassionate grounds and many will, especially for the early weeks, but nothing requires them to and it is rarely offered unless asked.
The money that does exist is Bereavement Support Payment. At the higher rate, which applies to anyone with a child, it is £3,500 as a lump sum plus £350 a month for 18 months — £9,800 in all. It is not taxable and not means-tested, so it is unaffected by your income or savings, and cohabiting partners qualify alongside spouses and civil partners provided they were getting Child Benefit for a child living with them.
It has to be claimed within three months of the death to get the full amount. Claim between three and twelve months and you keep the lump sum but lose £350 for every month you waited. After twelve months the lump sum goes; after twenty-one months you cannot usually claim at all. Of every deadline on this page, that is the one that cannot be undone, and it is worth doing before anything else here.
This leave sits alongside your other entitlements rather than replacing them. It can be taken before or after ordinary paternity leave, shared parental leave, unpaid parental leave and neonatal care leave. The 2024 Act also fixed a specific gap by allowing paternity leave to follow shared parental leave in these circumstances, which was not generally possible before.
One thing worth proper advice rather than assumption: where the mother died before curtailing her maternity leave, modified shared parental leave rules can apply and may open up entitlements that are otherwise unavailable. The choices interact, so it is worth asking before committing to dates. Working Families and Acas both advise free of charge, and WAY Widowed and Young exists for exactly this group.
A new statutory right, in force for deaths on or after 6 April 2026, for someone whose partner dies during childbirth or within the first year of their child’s birth or adoption placement. It gives up to 52 weeks of leave to care for the child, and it is a day-one right — there is no qualifying service at all.
It comes from the Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave Regulations 2026, built on the Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024. Before it existed, a father or partner in this position had no dedicated entitlement and had to piece something together from paternity leave, shared parental leave and their employer’s goodwill.
52 weeks less your child’s age at the date of the death. If your partner died during childbirth you have the full 52. If they died when your child was 20 weeks old, you have 32.
The calculator above works it out, because the arithmetic is easy to get wrong at a time when nobody should be doing arithmetic.
Yes, and this is the thing to know. All of the leave has to be taken within 52 weeks of the birth or placement — not 52 weeks from the death. So the window keeps closing whether or not you have started, and every week that passes is a week you cannot get back.
If you think you may want any of it, tell your employer now. You can vary or cancel the dates later on the same notice terms, so giving notice early protects the weeks without committing you to anything.
Three things have to be true:
There is no length-of-service requirement. It applies from your first day in a job, and your employer cannot refuse it.
No. The leave is entirely unpaid. There is no statutory bereaved partner’s pay, which is the single biggest limitation of the new right.
Employers may pay on compassionate grounds and a good many will, particularly for the early weeks — but nothing obliges them, and it is rarely offered unprompted. Ask, and ask early, before dates are agreed.
Bereavement Support Payment, and it is worth claiming immediately. At the higher rate — which applies to anyone with a child — it is £3,500 as a lump sum plus £350 a month for 18 months, so £9,800 in total. It is not taxable and not means-tested, so your income and savings do not affect it.
You must claim within three months of the death to get all of it. Claim between three and twelve months and you keep the lump sum but lose monthly payments — £350 for each month you wait. After twelve months the lump sum goes entirely, and after twenty-one months you cannot usually claim at all. Of everything on this page, this is the deadline that matters most, because it is the only one that cannot be recovered.
Cohabiting partners qualify as well as spouses and civil partners, provided you were getting Child Benefit for a child living with you, or were entitled to it. Also check Child Benefit in your own name and whether you now qualify for Universal Credit, since a household income has changed.
Within eight weeks of the death, the leave can start immediately — notice, spoken or written, given before you were due to start work that day is enough. After eight weeks you need to give written notice at least one week in advance.
You can vary the start date, change your intended return date, or cancel a period of leave, on the same notice terms.
Yes — it stacks rather than replacing anything. It can be taken before or after ordinary paternity leave, shared parental leave, unpaid parental leave and neonatal care leave.
The Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024 also fixed a specific gap: it allows paternity leave to be taken after shared parental leave in these circumstances, which was not generally possible before.
This is worth taking specific advice on rather than assuming, because the position depends on where your partner was in her maternity leave and what had already been curtailed.
There are modified shared parental leave rules that apply where the mother dies before curtailing her maternity leave, and they can open up entitlements that would not otherwise be available. Acas and Working Families both advise free of charge, and Working Families in particular is used to this situation. Ask before you commit to any set of dates, because the choices interact.
Unfortunately not — the regulations apply to deaths on or after that date and are not retrospective. Since 29 December 2025, though, the right to take the ordinary two weeks of paternity leave became a day-one right for bereaved partners, and from April 2026 paternity leave became a day-one right for everyone.
Unpaid parental leave also gives 18 weeks per child up to their eighteenth birthday and became a day-one right in April 2026, and a flexible working request is frequently worth more than a block of leave when you have become the only parent. Bereavement Support Payment may still be claimable if the death was within the last 21 months.
All free and independent:
It is unlawful for an employer to treat you badly for taking this leave or for asking about it.
Ordinary paternity leave is separate from this, and it is paid. You can take both.
