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Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay Employment and Earnings Amendment Regulations

UK New Legislation

Published April 6th, 2026

Detected April 7th, 2026

Summary

The Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland) has amended the Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (General) (No. 2) Regulations 2023 via S.R. 2026 No. 74. The amendments take effect on 6th April 2026 and modify provisions governing continuous employment calculation and normal weekly earnings computation for parental bereavement pay eligibility. Regulations 12-15 and 17 are omitted, while regulation 19 on normal weekly earnings is substantially revised.

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What changed

The Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (Employment and Earnings) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026 make substantive changes to the 2023 principal regulations. Key amendments include: omission of regulations 12-15 (previously governing certain employment continuity provisions), modification of regulation 16 regarding change of employer to reference earnings calculation rather than continuous employment, omission of regulation 17 entirely, and replacement of regulation 19 paragraphs (4)-(9) to revise the methodology for calculating normal weekly earnings for parental bereavement pay purposes. The revised earnings calculation provisions address the 8-week reference period under section 167ZZ9(6)(a) of the 1992 Act and introduce new rules for calculating earnings during periods beginning after the 8-week period and ending on the first day of bereavement.

Employers and payroll administrators in Northern Ireland must review and update their parental bereavement pay calculation procedures ahead of the 6th April 2026 effective date. HR systems should be modified to reflect the revised continuous employment provisions and the new normal weekly earnings calculation methodology. Legal professionals advising employers should ensure documentation reflects the removed regulations and new calculation framework. The changes affect entitlement assessments for employees claiming statutory parental bereavement pay under the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992.

What to do next

Update parental bereavement pay calculation procedures to reflect the revised normal weekly earnings methodology in regulation 19
Review and revise HR systems to implement the modified continuous employment provisions for change of employer scenarios
Ensure payroll staff are trained on the new earnings calculation provisions effective 6th April 2026

Source document (simplified)

Status:

This is the original version (as it was originally made). This item of legislation is currently only available in its original format.

Regulations made by the Department for the Economy and laid before the Assembly under section 172(1) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 for approval of the Assembly before the expiration of six months from the date of their coming into operation

Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland

2026 No. 74

Employment

Parental Bereavement

The Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (Employment and Earnings) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026

Made

1st April 2026

Coming into operation

6th April 2026

The Department for the Economy makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 167ZZ10(4), 167ZZ11(2), 167ZZ12(1), 167ZZ14(3), 167ZZ16, 167ZZ17(3), (4), (7), (8) and (9), 167ZZ19 and 171(4) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992(1) and section 5(1)(m) and 165(5) of the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992(2) and now vested in it(3), with the concurrence of the Commissioners for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in so far as that concurrence is required(4), and with the concurrence of the Treasury in so far as that concurrence is required(5).

PART 1

Citation, commencement and interpretation

—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (Employment and Earnings) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026 and shall come into operation on 6th April 2026.

(2) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(6) shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

PART 2 Amendments for continuous employment and earnings

Amendments to the Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (General) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023

—(1) The Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (General) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023(7) are amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (9).

(2) Omit regulations 12 to 15.

(3) In regulation 16(1) (change of employer) for “as continuous” substitute “and for the purposes of calculating earnings as”.

(4) Omit regulation 17.

(5) In regulation 19 (normal weekly earnings)—

(a) For paragraphs (4) to (9) substitute—

“ (4) For the purposes of calculating a person’s normal weekly earnings—

(a) for the period of 8 weeks referred to in section 167ZZ9(6)(a) of the 1992 Act, the relevant period is that period of 8 weeks;

(b) for a continuous period of weeks within that period of 8 weeks that ends at the end of that period of 8 weeks, the relevant period is that continuous period of weeks.

(5) Paragraph (6) explains how to calculate a person’s normal weekly earnings for any period of days beginning immediately after the end of the period of 8 weeks referred to in section 167ZZ9(6)(a) of the 1992 Act and ending on the first day of bereavement.

(6) For the purposes of paragraph (5), a person’s normal weekly earnings are to be taken to be the earnings which in the period of days have been paid to the person or paid for the person’s benefit under the contract of service with the employer in question (which earnings will be added to any expected normal weekly earnings for the week in question to provide the person’s normal weekly earnings for that week for the purposes of section 167ZZ9(5) of the 1992 Act).

(7) For the purposes of calculating normal weekly earnings—

(a) a person shall be treated as having earned an amount in respect of any week for which earnings were due, whether or not those earnings were paid during that week or within the relevant period on the normal pay day; and

(b) where earnings are due to be paid on a normal pay day falling after the end of the relevant period but relate to work done or remuneration accrued during that period, those earnings shall be treated as earned in the relevant period.

(8) In a case where a person has no identifiable normal pay day, paragraph (7) shall have effect as if the words “day of payment” were substituted for the words “normal pay day” in each place where they occur.

(9) In any case where a person receives a back-dated pay increase which includes a sum in respect of a relevant period, normal weekly earnings shall be calculated as if such a sum was paid in that relevant period even though received after that period.

(10) In this regulation—

(a) “ day of payment ” means a day on which a person is paid;

(b) “ normal pay day ” means a day on which the terms of a person’s contract of service require the person to be paid, or the practice in that person’s employment is for that person to be paid if any payment is due to them. ”.

(6) After regulation 19 insert—

“ 19A. — (1) For the purposes of section 167ZZ9(7) of the 1992 Act, a person’s expected normal weekly earnings—

(a) for the period of 7 weeks beginning immediately after the end of the week of the bereavement, are to be taken to be the average weekly earnings which the person could reasonably be expected to earn in that period of 7 weeks;

(b) for a continuous period of weeks within that period of 7 weeks that begins immediately after the end of the week of the bereavement, are to be taken to be the average weekly earnings which the person could reasonably be expected to earn in that continuous period of weeks;

(c) for any period of days beginning immediately after the first day of bereavement and ending at the end of the week of the bereavement, are to be taken to be the earnings which the person could reasonably be expected to earn in that period of days (which expected earnings will be added to any normal weekly earnings for the week in question to provide the person’s normal weekly earnings for that week for the purposes of section 167ZZ9(5) of the 1992 Act).

(2) The expression “ earnings ” has the same meaning as in regulation 19(2) and (3).

(3) In calculating a person’s expected normal weekly earnings for a period for the purposes of sections 167ZZ9(7) and 167ZZ17(9) of the 1992 Act regard is to be had to—

(a) the person’s contractual rate of pay;

(b) the person’s normal working hours;

(c) any earnings paid to the person in any period before the period mentioned in section 167ZZ9(6)(a) of the 1992 Act which are considered representative of the person’s weekly earnings;

(d) pre-arranged periods of unpaid absence during the period in question which are unrelated to the entitlement criteria in regulations 4 and 4A;

(e) any other information which is reasonable to take into account for the purpose of calculating the person’s expected normal weekly earnings.

(4) A person’s expected normal weekly earnings are to be calculated for the purposes of sections 167ZZ9(7) and 167ZZ17(9) of the 1992 Act on the assumption that the person’s employment with the employer will continue for the remainder of the period of 8 weeks referred to in section 167ZZ9(6)(b) of that Act (and that is the case even if the person’s employment is due to end before the end of that period).

(5) In any case where a person receives a back-dated pay increase that includes some or all of the period in question, expected normal weekly earnings for that period must be calculated as if the pay increase was already in operation during the period or, as the case may be, the part of the period included within the back-dated pay increase.

(6) For the purposes of calculating a person’s expected normal weekly earnings for a period, where on the first day of bereavement the person is employed by two or more employers who in respect of that day are treated as one under regulation 18(1), those employers are to continue to be treated as one for the period in respect of which expected normal weekly earnings are calculated and the average weekly earnings which the person could reasonably be expected to earn from each employer in the period are to be aggregated.

(7) Where two or more employers are treated as one under paragraph (6) for the purposes of calculating a person’s expected normal weekly earnings for a period, liability for statutory parental bereavement pay shall be apportioned between them in such proportions as they may agree or, in default of agreement, in the proportions which the person’s expected normal weekly earnings from each employment bear to the amount of the aggregated expected normal weekly earnings over the period. ”.

(7) In regulation 20 (weekly rate of payment)—

(a) for paragraph (1)(b) substitute—

“ (b) where a person entitled to statutory parental bereavement pay meets the weekly earnings threshold—

(i) by reference to the period of 8 weeks referred to in section 167ZZ9(6)(a) of the 1992 Act, 90% of the normal weekly earnings for that period (regardless of whether the person also meets the weekly earnings threshold by reference to any other continuous period of 8 weeks within the relevant window referred to in section 167ZZ9(5) and (6) of the 1992 Act);

(ii) by reference to a continuous period of 7 weeks within the period of 8 weeks referred to in section 167ZZ9(6)(a) of the 1992 Act in combination with the week of the bereavement but not also by reference to the period of 8 weeks referred to in head (i), 90% of the figure produced by the calculation referred to in paragraph (1A) (regardless of whether the person also meets the weekly earnings threshold by reference to any other continuous period of 8 weeks within the relevant window referred to in section 167ZZ9(5) and (6) of the 1992 Act);

(iii) by reference to a continuous period of 8 weeks that includes 6 weeks within the period of 8 weeks referred to in section 167ZZ9(6)(a) of the 1992 Act and 1 week within the period of 7 weeks referred to in regulation 19A(1)(a) but not also by reference to any of the periods of 8 weeks referred to in heads (i) and (ii), 90% of the figure produced by the calculation referred to in paragraph (1B) (regardless of whether the person also meets the weekly earnings threshold by reference to any other continuous period of 8 weeks within the relevant window referred to in section 167ZZ9(5) and (6) of the 1992 Act);

(iv) by reference to a continuous period of 8 weeks that includes 5 weeks within the period of 8 weeks referred to in section 167ZZ9(6)(a) of the 1992 Act and 2 weeks within the period of 7 weeks referred to in regulation 19A(1)(a) but not also by reference to any of the periods of 8 weeks referred to in heads (i), (ii) and (iii), 90% of the figure produced by the calculation referred to in paragraph (1C) (regardless of whether the person also meets the weekly earnings threshold by reference to any other continuous period of 8 weeks within the relevant window referred to in section 167ZZ9(5) and (6) of the 1992 Act);

(v) by reference to a continuous period of 8 weeks that includes 4 weeks within the period of 8 weeks referred to in section 167ZZ9(6)(a) of the 1992 Act and 3 weeks within the period of 7 weeks referred to in regulation 19A(1)(a) but not also by reference to any of the periods of 8 weeks referred to in heads (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv), 90% of the figure produced by the calculation referred to in paragraph (1D) (regardless of whether the person also meets the weekly earnings threshold by reference to any other continuous period of 8 weeks within the relevant window referred to in section 167ZZ9(5) and (6) of the 1992 Act);

(vi) by reference to a continuous period of 8 weeks that includes 3 weeks within the period of 8 weeks referred to in section 167ZZ9(6)(a) of the 1992 Act and 4 weeks within the period of 7 weeks referred to in regulation 19A(1)(a) but not also by reference to any of the periods of 8 weeks referred to in heads (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) and (v), 90% of the figure produced by the calculation referred to in paragraph (1E) (regardless of whether the person also meets the weekly earnings threshold by reference to any other continuous period of 8 weeks within the relevant window referred to in section 167ZZ9(5) and (6) of the 1992 Act);

(vii) by reference to a continuous period of 8 weeks that includes 2 weeks within the period of 8 weeks referred to in section 167ZZ9(6)(a) of the 1992 Act and 5 weeks within the period of 7 weeks referred to in regulation 19A(1)(a) but not also by reference to any of the periods of 8 weeks referred to in heads (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v) and (vi), 90% of the figure produced by the calculation referred to in paragraph (1F) (regardless of whether the person also meets the weekly earnings threshold by reference to any other continuous period of 8 weeks within the relevant window referred to in section 167ZZ9(5) and (6) of the 1992 Act);

(viii) by reference to a continuous period of 8 weeks that includes 1 week within the period of 8 weeks referred to in section 167ZZ9(6)(a) of the 1992 Act and 6 weeks within the period of 7 weeks referred to in regulation 19A(1)(a) but not also by reference to any of the periods of 8 weeks referred to in heads (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi) and (vii), 90% of the figure produced by the calculation referred to in paragraph (1G) (regardless of whether the person also meets the weekly earnings threshold by reference to any other continuous period of 8 weeks within the relevant window referred to in section 167ZZ9(5) and (6) of the 1992 Act);

(ix) by reference to the period of 7 weeks referred to in regulation 19A(1)(a) in combination with the week of the bereavement but not by reference to any other continuous period of 8 weeks within the relevant window, 90% of the figure produced by the calculation referred to in paragraph (1H). ”;

(b) after paragraph (1) insert—

“ (1A) The calculation required by this paragraph is—

(a) the person’s normal weekly earnings for the 7 week period multiplied by 7, plus

(b) the person’s normal weekly earnings, for the purposes of section 167ZZ9(5) of the 1992 Act, for the week of the bereavement (that is, the sum of the person’s normal weekly earnings and expected normal weekly earnings for the week),

(1B) The calculation required by this paragraph is—

(a) the person’s normal weekly earnings for the 6 week period multiplied by 6, plus

(b) the person’s expected normal weekly earnings for the week after the week of the bereavement, plus

(c) the person’s normal weekly earnings, for the purposes of section 167ZZ9(5) of the 1992 Act, for the week of the bereavement (that is, the sum of the person’s normal weekly earnings and expected normal weekly earnings for the week),