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Two Together: Save £100!
Save £100 when you purchase two funeral plans together. Call us for more details.
Buy now, pay in January
Buy your funeral plan today and pay in January for peace of mind this Christmas. Click here for full T&Cs.
13 minute read
When we lose someone close to us, it can be overwhelming in so many different ways. We may have a large amount of complicated and unfamiliar admin to deal with. We may have to find some way of funding the funeral. And, of course, we have a life of our own; alongside dealing with our grief, we will likely need to work. It’s a situation that can make us wonder about compassionate leave for a funeral.
In this article, we will discuss compassionate leave for a funeral, defining it, discussing eligibility, and offering support on returning to work after bereavement leave. We’d also like to say that, if you’re reading this article, you might be experiencing a difficult time. Aura stands ready to help you. We are the top-rated ‘Cremation Services’ provider on Trustpilot (with 4.9/5 stars), and we offer our funeral services both to those seeking a direct cremation at short notice, and those thinking about their own future funeral with a prepaid funeral plan.
Compassionate leave for a funeral is a form of annual leave available to employees who are facing a bereavement.
Compassionate leave is a category of annual leave which employees may be able to request from their employer, either because they need to attend a funeral, or because they are coping with grief and need time away. If we are trying to work out how to cope with the death of a parent, for example, the last thing we need is to be plunged back into the day-to-day reality of our working life as nothing has happened.
Currently, in the UK, you have the right to compassionate leave for a funeral from your employer, if the funeral relates to the death of one of your dependants. A dependant could be your husband, wife, civil partner, or partner; your child; your parent; someone who lives with you; someone who relies on you, e.g., an elderly, unrelated neighbour.
You don’t have the right for this leave to be paid, but your employer may work something out with you, for example by classing it as a paid sick day, or annual leave. Other employers may offer paid bereavement leave as a benefit, but it will depend on the policy of your employer. You can check your contract of employment for further details.
Whether or not you are entitled to take a form of compassionate leave from your job depends on whether or not the person who has died was a ‘dependant’ of yours.
The answer to this question, in many ways, will depend on your employer. As noted, only those employees who’ve suffered the bereavement of a dependant are eligible for any kind of compassionate leave. Parents of children under the age of 18 who’ve died, under ‘Jack’s Law’, are entitled to two weeks of fully paid bereavement leave.
But that doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t be able to take compassionate leave for the death of a non-dependant who was important to you; it all depends on your employer. These days, certain forward-thinking employers even offer time off work for those who’ve lost a cherished pet. But whether or not such leave is available, how long it covers, and whether or not it is paid, is entirely at the discretion of the employer.
The success of an application for compassionate leave will rest on a number of factors. The most important one is probably your relationship to the person who has died. From the employer’s perspective, there’s a lot of difference between dealing with the unexpected death of a loved one and finding that a favourite musician or actor of yours has passed away. Employers work hard to keep an open mind about how grief impacts their employees, and try not to judge the many different reactions we might have, but personal relationships between their employees and the person who has died will take precedence.
Understandably, the question of compassionate leave for a funeral or otherwise is not something we tend to think about until it’s needed. People are often surprised to find how little such leave they are entitled to, if any. In order to avoid confusion or disappointment, it’s important to keep communications open between you and your HR team, who should be ready and willing to help you understand what you’re entitled to, and to help you deal with what you are going through.
When applying for compassionate leave, it’s important to clearly explain your relationship to the person who has died, and not to delay.
When you need to break bad news to your line manager, such as when you need to announce a death that has occurred in your personal life beyond work, it can be helpful to keep a few things in mind:
Naturally, if you can’t face the thought of this, that is perfectly understandable, in which case giving your line manager a call, or sending them a message should be more than enough. When you’re explaining that someone has died and that you need some time off to deal with things, make sure to explain who that person was to you in life, so that your line manager can understand the nature of your relationship. If you know when and where the funeral is, let them know that information too, if it’s relevant to the request or the company policy.
Some employers might request some form of proof of bereavement before they can grant a request for compassionate leave. As you may know, a death could result in a lot of paperwork for you, if you are organising the funeral. When someone dies, the next of kin will need to register the death. Once this has been done, they will receive the Death Certificate from the local registrar. In some cases, your employer may need to see a copy of this (or possibly just a photocopy), or otherwise some sort of proof of the funeral due to take place.
Naturally, if you are not the next-of-kin of the person who has died, you may not be a part of the funeral process, or have anything to do with the paperwork. Therefore, you might need to ask those who are organising it if they can provide a copy of the relevant proof for you. Again, if doing so, make sure to pick your moment, and, if possible, to request such information in person.
What length of compassionate leave you may be able to secure from your employer will depend on your relationship to the person who has died, as well as the general policy of your employer.
With the exception of bereavement leave under ‘Jack’s Law’ for the parents of children under the age of 18 who’ve died, who are entitled to longer, most companies offer between one and five days of bereavement leave. That is, specific leave which is separate from annual leave (holiday) or sick leave. Remember, for the funerals of non-dependants, employers are not legally obliged to offer any sort of bereavement leave to their employees.
Indeed, there is no legal requirement, except as regards ‘Jack’s Law’ for any compassionate leave to be paid leave. With that said, many employers are highly sensitive – for reasons of productivity as well as compassion – to the impact of grief on the mental health and wellbeing of their employees, and therefore may make an effort to reflect that in their own policy.
Naturally, it’s not to say that, if you need some time off to come to terms with a loss, that they should be back and ready for work as if nothing had ever happened once the leave period has elapsed. Hopefully, your employer will be understanding, and ready to be flexible with you. Talk to your line manager, and your colleagues, about managing the workload.
You might want to look into a staggered return to work, where, over a period of weeks or months, you start with one or two days a week, before gradually increasing the number of days until you return to full-time work. Don’t judge yourself if, even once you’ve reached a point where you feel you’re getting back to normal, you are struck once again by the force of grief. Grieving looks different for everyone, and we all handle it differently. A good employer will understand this, and support you accordingly.
The parents of children under the age of 18 have special rights relevant to bereavement leave, likely in recognition of the particularly intense pain of losing a child.
Parents who have suffered the loss of any child who is under the age of 18, or who have a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy are legally entitled to two weeks of compassionate leave from their employer in the UK.
This bereavement leave may even be paid leave, assuming certain criteria are met:
Bereavement pay is paid at a flat-rate set by the government (£184.03 per month, liable to change every tax year), or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.
You will need to let your employer know as soon as possible about your intention to take the two-weeks’ compassionate leave. Parents have the right to take the two weeks all at once, or to take two individual weeks separately, as they prefer. The leave needs to be taken within the 56 weeks of the child’s death.
Compassionate leave for a funeral or grieving time is not necessarily appropriate or available to everyone.
It might be that the bereavement you’ve suffered is not covered by ‘Jack’s Law’, if the person was not a dependant of yours, or that you need longer than the two weeks it offers to come to terms with the loss you’ve suffered. In these cases, using your annual leave might be an option. This way, you could remain absent from work for a longer period of time and be paid your full salary in the meantime. As an alternative, it may be possible to class the leave as sick leave, given the strain that grief can place on our mental health.
Other people prefer to avoid taking a lot of time off, instead preferring to remain busy and plugged into their normal lives. The need to keep busy is also a perfectly normal and common response to grief. As such, it might be that working flexibly would suit your needs better for managing any grief you might feel, or attending to any funeral-related admin. You can perhaps arrange to work temporarily on a part-time basis, or fully remotely from home. A good employer will want to help you however they can, within reason.
If you have no annual leave left or can’t afford unpaid leave, working flexibly or making a staggered return to full-time work are also potential options you can make use of to lessen the burden of bereavement. Make sure to liaise with the HR team, and your colleagues, to stay in the loop and keep lines of communication open.
If you are an employer, make sure that your employees know what bereavement support is available to them, as it can really help to make your place of work a compassionate one.
Talking about death and dying can be hard at first, but, even among colleagues, it can be a very useful and productive thing to foster. It can also be important to raise awareness of different bereavement charities who can offer different types of support, from counselling to financial.
Cruse Bereavement Support has a helpline that can be called for grief support, as well as written resources which can be downloaded. Quaker Social Action may be able to offer financial support with funeral costs, and Sue Ryder can help to point people in the direction of local death cafes. Death cafes allow you to discuss bereavement and loss with others who are local to you who may be grieving. It can provide a safe, familiar setting as well as a layer of anonymity which can help people to open up conversation about dying and death.
In general, maintaining a supportive, helpful and patient demeanour towards any employees who may be grieving will always be remembered by them as a positive influence in their lives, and will set a positive example going forward.
We hope that this article has helped you to understand the subject of compassionate leave for a funeral a bit more clearly. If you’re looking for guidance on this subject, then you might have recently lost someone close to you, or you might be thinking about how to prepare for your own funeral in the future.
Aura offers a low-cost, modern alternative to the traditional funeral through our top-rated cremation services. Our wonderful, compassionate Aura Angel team will be there to assist you or your family throughout, acting as a cremation forms guide, and lending a listening ear, if you feel you need to talk.
