On 7 February 2022, the Northern Ireland Assembly passed the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill. It is anticipated that the new legislation will come into effect in April 2022, once the Bill has received Royal Assent and when further details have been set out in the accompanying regulations.

Parental bereavement will only be available to employees. If your business engages other personnel such as workers, self-employed contractors or agency workers, they will not be eligible for parental bereavement leave from you.

It is important to note that there is no qualifying period for parental bereavement leave. This is a "day one" employment right for all employees (there is, however, a qualifying period for statutory parental bereavement pay – see further details below).

The key requirement for eligibility to bereavement leave will be whether the employee qualifies as a “bereaved parent”. The forthcoming regulations will specify the conditions required to establish an employee’s relationship to the child in question but, by way of indication, the equivalent provisions applicable in Great Britain are drafted widely to cover most types of parental relationship.