Bereaved parents get legal right to time off work under new 'Jack's Law'

Parents who suffer the loss of a child under the age of 18 will be entitled to two weeks' bereavement leave from work, under what is known as Jack's Law.

The new legal right has been created after years of campaigning by Lucy Herd from Wokingham in Berkshire in memory of her son Jack.

The 23-month-old died in a pond at his family home in 2010.

Lucy campaigned for extended leave for grieving parents after Jack's father discovered he was only entitled to three days off work, one of which had to be the funeral.

Ministers say the new law is a "fitting testament" to Lucy's campaigning.

The new law will come into force from April.

Parents will be able to take the leave as either a single block of two weeks, or as two separate blocks of one week each taken at different times across the first year after their child’s death.