‘Jack’s Law’ to apply to all children, regardless of age

Amended regulations allowing bereaved parents to take up to two weeks of paid leave from work will take effect as from April.
Last month the Government confirmed that it would introduce the legislation, which is known as ‘Jack’s Law’ in the UK, in memory of Jack Herd.
In its original announcement, the Government specified that, under ‘Jack’s law,’ working parents who suffered the devastating loss of a child under the age of 18, or who suffered a stillbirth from 24 weeks of pregnancy, would be entitled to two weeks statutory leave.
Parents would be able to take the leave as either a single block of 2 weeks or as 2 separate blocks of one week each which could be taken at different times across the first year after their child’s death.
This meant that parents could match their leave to the times they needed it most, which might be in the early days or around the first anniversary.
But, in a statement yesterday the Government said it feels that the parents’ pain and suffering are the same whether the ‘child’ is 17 or 37 and so it has now decided to remove the threshold of 18 years of age.
‘Jack’s Law’ will apply, no matter what the age of the ‘child’ and, as a result, bereaved parents of adult children will also be entitled to the two weeks of statutory leave.
The amended regulations will take effect from April, the Government confirmed.