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Gibraltar to introduce new bereavement and pregnancy loss leave rights
Gibraltar will follow the UK in introducing new rights to bereavement leave, the Chief Minister has confirmed.
From next April, UK employees will gain a statutory right to time off following the death of a close family member - while women and their partners will also be entitled to up to two weeks’ unpaid leave following pregnancy loss.
The announcement has renewed attention on similar reforms previously promised in Gibraltar.
Losing a spouse or partner, parent, adult child or sibling will, from next April, give employees in the UK a statutory right to bereavement leave.
The protection will also cover a wider range of family relationships, including step, adoptive and foster relationships.
And the changes extend to pregnancy loss.
Women and their partners will be entitled to up to two weeks’ unpaid leave following a miscarriage or termination before 24 weeks - as well as an unsuccessful IVF embryo transfer.
The Chief Minister has confirmed Gibraltar would follow suit, matching the proposed benefits or even going further than the UK.
This isn’t the first time greater protections for bereaved parents have been promised.
In 2020, Gibraltar announced it would introduce Jack’s Law, providing two weeks’ paid leave following the death of a child.
The provisions were introduced for the Civil Service - but the wider statutory entitlement was never enacted.
Pregnancy loss has been before Parliament too.
In 2023, MPs unanimously backed a motion calling for paid miscarriage leave, with legislation expected to follow.
Three years later, that remains outstanding.
So too does another long-promised reform.
Plans for paternity and shared parental leave were described as being at an “advanced stage” in 2019.
Seven years later, they have yet to become law.
The Chief Minister says Equality Minister Christian Santos has told him the Government is now closer than ever to finalising the calculations - and that he expects the changes to be introduced “very soon”.