What the right is
- The partner's right covers the other biological parent, and the intended parents in a surrogacy arrangement.
- The 2 weeks can be taken as single days, any time within 56 weeks of the loss.
- In the first 8 weeks after the loss you tell your employer as soon as is reasonably practicable, not in advance.
- Taking it is protected. Nobody can be treated worse or dismissed for it.
- It covers Great Britain. Northern Ireland sets its own employment law and is not part of this.
- The right comes from the Employment Rights Act 2025. The detail is set by regulations next year.
The same package brings in bereavement leave for the death of a spouse or partner, a parent, an adult child or a sibling. Step, half, adoptive, kinship care and foster relationships count. None of these carry a legal right to leave today. That starts in April 2027 too.
What exists today
There has never been a legal right to leave for a pregnancy lost before 24 weeks. The paid parental bereavement leave that exists today covers a stillbirth after 24 weeks or the death of a child under 18. Before that line, time off has depended on the employer, or on a sick note. 1 in 5 women in the UK will have a miscarriage in their lifetime.
The government consulted on the new rights until January 2026. More than 8 in 10 employers who responded supported bereavement leave. Most already go further than the law will, often with paid time.
What it means for NHS staff
As employees, the new right is a floor, and it is unpaid. The law gives the time off, not the pay. A trust whose special leave policy already gives paid time after a pregnancy loss is not changed by it. A trust whose policy gives nothing now has to give the 2 weeks, and whether they are paid stays with that trust.
Day one is the part that matters most in the NHS. A resident doctor (junior doctor) changes employer every few months, so a loss can come in the first weeks at a new trust. The right is there from the first day, so that timing no longer matters.
Today a woman who wants time off after a miscarriage often needs a fit note or a letter for her employer. From April 2027 nobody can be asked for proof of the loss, so that letter stops being part of the job.
Sources: GOV.UK: New rights for family bereavement and pregnancy loss (22 September 2026) and GOV.UK: Make Work Pay, leave for bereavement including pregnancy loss (consultation response)
