It's Monday morning and one of your team rings to say their mum has died at the weekend. Your policy gives them five days off. Research from MetLife UK found that 55% of bereaved employees said it took them up to eight weeks to feel like themselves at work again, while typical compassionate leave lasts three to five working days. The leave runs out long before the grief does.
So bereavement support for employees isn't only a leave question. It's what happens around the leave and after it: the first phone call, the funeral three weeks later, the paperwork, the first day back and the first anniversary. This guide covers what the law requires from April 2027, six steps for supporting employees through bereavement, and the benefits that can help.
What is bereavement support for employees?
Bereavement support is everything you do to help an employee after someone close to them dies: time off, pay, how their manager responds, changes to their work when they return, and benefits such as counselling.
Bereavement leave is one part of that. It covers the first days, but employees may need support for weeks or months after the funeral, while there's still paperwork to deal with and colleagues have stopped asking.
How bereavement leave law is changing from April 2027
Right now, employees can take a ‘reasonable’ amount of unpaid time off to deal with the death of a dependant. Eligible parents get two weeks of parental bereavement leave if their child dies under the age of 18 or is stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy. If the person who died was neither a dependant nor a child, there's no legal right to time off.
That changes in April 2027. The government has confirmed a new right to bereavement leave for employees in Great Britain who lose a spouse or partner, parent, adult child or sibling. Step, half, adoptive, foster and kinship care relationships are included. The right also covers pregnancy loss before 24 weeks, with up to two weeks of unpaid leave for the person who was pregnant and their partner.
The details will be set out in secondary legislation, so check the final rules before you rewrite your policy. But some gaps are already clear. The new statutory entitlement will not cover a grandparent or a close friend, and it doesn't address what happens when someone comes back to work. Those decisions are yours.
How to support employees through bereavement: 6 steps
Here's how to support employees through grief and loss, from the first call to the first anniversary.
1. Set out a clear bereavement policy
When there's no clear policy, every manager improvises. One gives two weeks. Another gives three days. People compare notes.
Set out four things in writing:
- Who it covers: the law lists relationships, but grief doesn't follow a list, so decide what happens when an employee loses a grandparent who raised them or a friend of 30 years
- What you pay: set out how much paid bereavement leave you offer and what happens when it ends
- How it's taken: explain whether employees can split their leave and use it later instead of taking it all in one block
- Pregnancy loss: name it in the policy, so nobody has to ask whether theirs ‘counts’
Once you've agreed the details, put them in a clear bereavement policy. Make sure a manager can find it in two minutes on a Monday morning. HR software with an AI assistant can make this easier by helping managers find relevant policies and get answers to common questions without going through HR.
. Get the first conversation right
People remember how their manager reacted. Most managers have never taken this call, so give them some guidance.
Start by saying you're sorry, make it clear that work can wait, and ask how they'd like to stay in touch. Then ask three practical questions:
- ‘Would you like me to tell the team, and what should I say?’
- ‘Is a call, a text or an email easiest for you this week?’
- ‘Is there anything urgent I should hand to someone else?’
Leave three things out: when they'll be back, how the person died, and ‘I know how you feel’.
Follow up in writing the next day to confirm their leave and pay arrangements, if the leave is paid. Someone in shock won't remember everything you said on the phone.
3. Be flexible about when leave is taken
Grief doesn't arrive in one block. Neither do the days someone needs.
The funeral might be next week or next month. Some faiths require or traditionally hold a burial within a day or two, while mourning periods can last for weeks. A death in the family abroad may also mean travelling overseas. If a coroner is involved, an inquest can come months later. Then there's the first birthday and the first anniversary.
From April 2027, statutory bereavement leave will be more flexible too. Employees will be able to take it as single days within 56 weeks of the loss. If you offer five days of paid bereavement leave, you could give employees the same flexibility, for example, taking three days now, one for the inquest and one for the anniversary.
Ask early on: ‘Are there dates coming up that you'd like to keep free?’
Be flexible about religious and cultural practices too. Unreasonably refusing time off for a religious ceremony after a death could amount to religion or belief discrimination.
4. Make room for the practical work
A death can leave someone with a long list of practical tasks to manage. They may need to register the death, arrange the funeral, notify banks and pension providers, value the estate and, often, apply for probate.
Many of those calls and appointments need to happen during the working day. You can't do the admin for your employee, but you can make room for it:
- Time for admin: agree a couple of hours a week for calls and appointments during the first few months, without asking for a reason each time
- A private space: offer a room where they can call their bank or solicitor away from their desk
- Specific signposting: check what your employee assistance programme (EAP) covers, because ‘the helpline can talk you through probate’ is more useful than ‘we have an EAP’
- Cover their work: reassign deadlines where possible, so work isn't waiting for them when they return
5. Plan the return together
Don't raise the return in the first few days. When they're ready to talk about it, agree the details before the first day back:
- What colleagues know: some people want condolences and others dread them, so ask what they prefer before you brief the team
- The first day: agree who meets them, what time they start and which meetings they can skip
- The first month: offer shorter days or lighter duties, and agree a date to review the arrangement
- Triggers in the role: someone who handles complaints, claims or patients may need a temporary change of duties
That last one is easy to miss. For example, a bereaved parent may want to know in advance that a colleague has announced a pregnancy. Ask what situations they may find difficult when they return.
6. Keep offering support in the months that follow
Difficult periods can come later: when the estate is settled, around a birthday or at the first anniversary. Changes in mood, concentration or performance can also appear months after the loss, so support shouldn't end after the first few weeks.
Three habits help:
- Note important dates: with their permission, note the anniversary and check in the week before
- Respond carefully to performance changes: if their performance dips, start with a conversation rather than immediately moving to a formal process
- Offer counselling again: some people may not be ready in the first few weeks, so remind them later that support is still available
Grief is a natural response to a death, not a mental health problem. But some people may experience mental health problems alongside grief. If you see signs of anxiety or depression, our guide to employee mental health support covers what to do next.
Which employee benefits can help after a bereavement
Most benefits packages already contain bereavement support. It just isn't labelled that way, and nobody searches five provider portals in the week of a funeral.
Look at the support you already offer and how it could help a bereaved employee:
- Someone to talk to: an EAP may give employees confidential access to counsellors by phone. Some employee health benefits, such as health cash plans and medical insurance, may also cover talking therapy
- Help with the paperwork: some EAPs include legal and financial information lines that can provide guidance on probate, wills and tax
- A claim to make: if the employee has partner or dependant life cover through work and that person has died, help them start the claim rather than waiting for them to ask
- Nominations to update: if the person who died was their named beneficiary for death in service or pension benefits, remind them at an appropriate time to update their nomination
- Additional support from your insurers: group life and income protection policies may include bereavement counselling or probate helplines. Ask your providers what's included and who can use it
Then put it all in one place, with relevant phone numbers and links, alongside your bereavement policy. Send the link in your follow-up message after the first call.
How FlexGenius helps you support bereaved employees
FlexGenius gives employees one place to access their benefits, policies and communications on any device. Your bereavement policy sits in a searchable, version-controlled document library, and you can link to it from other pages and announcements. Employees can also access their EAP, health cover and financial protection benefits in the same place, and update their dependant details themselves. Targeted announcements let you brief managers when your policy changes ahead of April 2027.
So when that Monday morning call comes, there's one link to send.
Book a demo or download the brochure to see FlexGenius in action.
