SURVIVING THE TSUNAMI OF GRIEF
By Katrina Taee and Wendelien McNicoll
Blog Post
JACK'S LAW WILL GIVE BEREAVED PARENTS TWO WEEKS PAID LEAVE
Katrina Taee • January 28, 2020
It comes into force in April, 2020
Lucy Herd, mother of Jack has been campaigning for reform in the UK since her son sadly drowned aged 23 months in 2010. As the law currently stands, there is no automatic right to paid time off for such bereavement. However, parents of stillborn children are entitled to maternity and paternity leave.
Under the new law, parents whose children die under the age of 18 will be able to take leave either as a single block of two weeks, or as two separate blocks of one week each across the first year after the death. In the past Lucy found that three days was sometimes the maximum time that workplaces offered and that it had to be taken as holiday.
The Parental Bereavement (Pay and Leave) Bill received royal assent in 2018 and will now come into force. Under the new rules, people who have been employed for at least 26 weeks will be entitled to a minimum payment of up to £148 a week during their bereavement leave, depending on the level of their salary.
We thank Lucy Herd for her enduring work in this area and pushing hard for better rights for parents at a time which is desperately difficult and painful. A bit of time and space for parents will be valued and very much needed.
Lucy has said she would like to see similar rights given to those grieving any loved one. "When I started this it was about everyone's bereavement, grief is grief".
Our 3rd Reprint has just arrived with new foreword
Liz Gleeson's new short animated film about some of the common experiences of grief.
Authors of Surviving the Tsunami of Grief, Wendelien McNicoll and Katrina Taee attend the official launch of Liz Gleeson's Shapes of Grief Education Programme in Greystones, Ireland.