These Regulations shall come into operation on 6th April 2022.
These Regulations introduce a new statutory entitlement for bereaved parents who are employees to take up to two weeks’ leave from their job called parental bereavement leave in the 56 weeks following the death of a child. These Regulations are made in exercise of the powers inserted into the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (N.I. 16) (the “1996 Order”) by the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act (Northern Ireland).
Regulation 4 sets out the conditions for entitlement which must be satisfied by the employee in order to take parental bereavement leave. These include substantive requirements, such as the employee falling within the definition of a bereaved parent (in particular, specifying the types of parental relationships in respect of which the new entitlement arises), as well as procedural requirements, such as the employee giving appropriate notices to their employer. Where an employee is entitled to parental bereavement leave under regulation 4 as the result of the death of more than one child, the employee is entitled to parental bereavement leave in respect of each child.
Regulation 5 sets out the number of weeks of parental bereavement leave that are available to a bereaved parent and gives an employee the option of taking either one or two weeks’ parental bereavement leave. The weeks taken as parental bereavement leave do not need to be taken consecutively. It also provides that parental bereavement leave may only be taken within the period of 56 weeks beginning with the date of the child’s death.
Regulation 6 details the notice requirements and other information the bereaved parent must provide to their employer before taking parental bereavement leave. An employee does not need to provide notice in writing to his or her employer, but the length of notice required to book and cancel parental bereavement leave will vary depending on whether the period the employee intends to take as parental bereavement leave falls within 56 days of the child’s death or later. Regulations 7 and 8 respectively set out when an employee’s period of bereavement leave may start and what happens when a period of parental bereavement leave is interrupted by another type of statutory leave under Part 9 of the 1996 Order.
Part 3 contains provisions applicable in relation to the taking of parental bereavement leave. Regulation 9 provides that an employee is entitled during his or her absence on leave to the benefit of all of his or her terms and conditions of employment apart from the right to remuneration; also that the employee is subject to all of the obligations under those terms and conditions except in so far as they are inconsistent with the right to take parental bereavement leave. Regulations 10 and 11 provide for an employee’s right to return to work after taking a period of parental bereavement leave, distinguishing the case where the leave was an isolated period of absence from the case where it followed another period of statutory leave. Regulations 12 and 13 provide that an employee entitled to parental bereavement leave is protected from detriment and dismissal attributable to the fact that they took or sought to take parental bereavement leave.
Part 4 contains provisions applicable where an employee has a contractual right to parental bereavement leave, in addition to the statutory right contained within these Regulations.
The Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2022
These Regulations exercise powers inserted into the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (c. 7) (the “1992 Act”) by the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 (c. 5), which provided for a new entitlement for bereaved parents who are employed earners to receive a statutory payment from their employers called statutory parental bereavement pay.
The Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay (Consequential Amendments to Subordinate Legislation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2022
These Regulations make amendments to secondary legislation in consequence of Regulations made under the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 and Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992, which make provision for entitlements to bereavement leave and pay for parents following the death of a child.
The Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (Administration) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2022
These Regulations provide for the funding of employers’ liabilities to make payments of statutory parental bereavement pay; they also impose obligations on employers in connection with such payments and confer powers on the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (“the Commissioners”).
Under regulation 3, an employer is entitled to an amount equal to 92 per cent. of payments made by the employer of statutory parental bereavement pay, or the whole of such payments if the employer is a small employer. Regulations 4 to 7 provide for employers to be reimbursed through deductions from income tax, national insurance and other payments that they would otherwise make to the Commissioners, and for the Commissioners to fund payments to the extent that employers cannot be fully reimbursed in this way. Regulation 8 enables the Commissioners to recover overpayments to employers.
Regulation 9 requires employers to maintain records relevant to the payment of statutory parental bereavement pay to employees or former employees, and regulation 10 empowers officers of Revenue and Customs to inspect, copy or remove employers’ payment records.
Regulation 11 requires an employer who decides not to make any, or any further, payments of statutory parental bereavement pay to an employee or a former employee to give that person the details of the decision and the reasons for it. Regulations 12 and 13 provide for officers of Revenue and Customs to determine issues relating to a person’s entitlement to statutory parental bereavement pay. Regulation 14 provides for employers, employment agencies, persons claiming statutory parental bereavement pay and others to furnish information or documents to an officer of Revenue and Customs on request.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2022/169/contents/made