Midlothian Council workers’ bereavement leave

All Midlothian Council workers who lose a child will be entitled to two weeks’ bereavement leave on full pay regardless of how long they have worked for the local authority.

Council HQ Midlothian House, Buccleuch St Dalkeith.

Councillors approved the plans to introduce parental bereavement leave without some of the restrictions introduced by the UK Government when it introduced Jack’s Law in April.

Jack’s Law, named in memory of Jack Herd, whose mother Lucy campaigned for 10 years for the legislation, introduced a statutory right to a minimum of two weeks’ leave for all employed parents if they lose a child under the age of 18, or suffer a stillbirth from 24 weeks of pregnancy.

However, a report to Midlothian Council said that it required the parents or primary carers to have worked as an employee continuously for 26 weeks before the child’s death to qualify and only paid £148.68 a week or 90 per cent of wages if they were lower.

A report to a virtual meeting of the council’s cabinet said: “We recognise the unimaginable trauma faced by bereaved parents and propose that employees applying for Parental Bereavement Leave receive the two weeks’ leave at FULL PAY (rather than the statutory rate) irrespective of their length of service.

“It is also recommended that employees will also be entitled to request an additional five days’ paid leave via the ‘bereavement leave’ provision within the Time Off Policy. ”

The report recommendation, which was agreed by cabinet, said: “Whilst the introduction of a statutory entitlement to two weeks’ parental bereavement leave is a positive step forward, Midlothian recognise that at such a traumatic time in people’s lives, showing compassion and kindness goes a long way to make staff feel valued and supported.”

Cabinet agreed to extend the right to leave and pay to all employees regardless of length of service; and enhance the payment to two weeks at full pay instead of the statutory values.