For rules and policies surrounding planned leave read:
In situations where absence is not planned, employees are entitled to reasonable time off to deal with emergencies involving dependants (eg child, grandchild, parent, partner or spouse etc). Emergencies include:
- illness, injury or assault (eg dependant is involved in an accident)
- having a baby (eg a dependant unexpectedly goes into labour)
- disruption of care arrangements (eg childminder is off sick)
- child involved in incident at school (eg suspended due to fighting)
Employers are not obliged to pay employees in respect of emergency time off, subject to the employment contract or policies on compassionate leave.
Employees are also entitled to time off for bereavement (eg to attend a funeral). In some circumstances, such bereavement leave may need to be paid. Parents are entitled to take up to two weeks off where they have lost a child under 18 (or where a child was stillborn after 24 weeks’ pregnancy), on or after the 6th of April 2020, to allow them time to grieve. Parental bereavement leave falls into two categories: paid and unpaid parental bereavement leave. Unpaid bereavement leave applies to parents from the first day they work for their employer. Paid parental bereavement becomes available to qualifying parents after 26 weeks of continuous employment. Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP) is set at the same rate as other statutory family-related payments (eg Statutory Paternity Pay). From the 6 April 2020, the rate will be £151.20 or 90% of their weekly earnings if lower. For more information, visit the Government website.