I beg to move

That the Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (General) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026 be approved.

The Business Committee has agreed that there should be no time limit on the debate.

Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

[Translation: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker.]

I seek the Assembly's approval for the Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (General) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026. The rule was made on 19 March and came into operation on 20 March. It is before the Assembly today under the confirmatory procedure, and I am grateful to the Committee for the Economy and to the Examiner of Statutory Rules for their scrutiny of the rule. The rule was made with the concurrence of HMRC, and I thank it for its assistance.

I am also grateful to Members who contributed to the debate and passage of the Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay (Miscarriage) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026. Those regulations extended parental bereavement leave and pay to parents who experienced pregnancy loss before 24 weeks, alongside existing provision for stillbirth and the death of a child before their 18th birthday. They were unanimously approved by the Assembly on 24 March 2026 and came into operation on 6 April 2026.

In my former capacity as Chair of the Economy Committee, I proposed that parental bereavement leave and pay should be extended to workers and employees who experience miscarriage and that the full entitlement should be available from the first day of employment. The Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2022 placed a statutory obligation on the Department for the Economy to make those changes by 6 April 2026. The regulations before the Assembly today are a key part of that implementation and ensure the continued operation of the statutory parental bereavement pay framework. The policy objective is clear: to support bereaved working parents at a time of profound loss and provide a minimum standard of protection in law.

Parental bereavement leave and pay are important employment rights. They recognise that grief is deeply personal and that working parents should not have to carry the additional pressure of losing income when they step away from work. Together, the 2026 reforms strengthen that support. They reflect the Assembly's commitment to an employment rights framework that is compassionate, practical and responsive to the realities faced by bereaved parents and their families.

The confirmatory procedure means that the regulations before the House today have come into operation before the Assembly debate has taken place and must then be approved by the Assembly within the relevant statutory period. In this case, the deadline for approval is 20 September 2026. It is therefore right that the Assembly now has the opportunity to consider and decide on the regulations.

By way of brief background, the policy to which the regulations relate builds on earlier consultation and legislative action to establish parental bereavement leave and pay. The aim has been consistent: to provide that support to working parents through the statutory right to leave, together with an associated statutory payment framework. The regulations update that statutory parental bereavement pay framework by removing the expiry provision and ensuring that the scheme continues seamlessly as we transition to a day-1 entitlement for bereaved parents in line with the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2022. That supports our wider legislative efforts to provide clear, effective support, including strengthened miscarriage provisions, and guarantees that working parents who face bereavement retain protected access to statutory pay. The regulations are now before the Assembly for approval, reflecting our commitment to compassionate and robust workplace rights.

I commend the following set of regulations to the Assembly for approval. The Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (General) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026 amend the existing statutory parental bereavement pay framework by omitting regulation 37, which is titled "Expiry", from the Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (General) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023. The expiry provision was originally included to reflect the transitional nature of the scheme when entitlement to statutory parental bereavement pay was subject to additional qualifying conditions, including a 26-week employment requirement. The Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2022 required those conditions to cease no later than 6 April 2026, when the pay entitlement became a day-1 right. The amendment ensures the continued operation of those regulations and forms part of a wider package of legislative measures establishing statutory parental bereavement pay as an entitlement for bereaved parents. In particular, the regulations were brought forward to ensure that the existing pay framework can continue in operation and to support the wider 2026 changes, including the strengthened arrangements associated with miscarriage provisions and the move to a day-1 right to statutory parental bereavement pay.

The regulations are before the Assembly, as I said, under the confirmatory procedure and require Assembly approval. They form part of the measures intended to ensure that bereaved parents continue to have access to a clear and effective statutory parental bereavement pay framework. I commend the regulations to the House.

Minister, thank you. I call Phillip Brett, Chairperson of the Committee for the Economy.

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I commend the regulations and rules to the Assembly on behalf of the Committee. As the Minister articulated, the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 introduced a statutory entitlement to 10 days of parental bereavement leave, together with a statutory payment for eligible working parents who have experienced a stillbirth from the twenty-fourth week of pregnancy or the death of a child up to their 18th birthday. The Assembly recently extended those entitlements to those who experienced a miscarriage up to the end of the twenty-third week of pregnancy.

The first statutory rule, SR 2026/58, amends other regulations and removes unnecessary expiry arrangements. The second statutory rule, SR 2026/74, provides for new definitions to facilitate the inclusion of miscarriage in parental bereavement leave and pay and makes consequential amendments to the leave and pay regulations. The rules were considered by our Committee in April 2026. The Committee was unanimous in its support for the measures, which support the needs of parents in the most difficult situations. On behalf of the Committee, I am therefore pleased to commend both statutory rules to the House.

In my role as a DUP MLA, I pay tribute to the Minister and her officials for bringing the rules forward in a timely manner. The outworkings of the rules date back to 2021, when the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill was introduced by my colleague Diane Dodds, the then Minister and Member for Upper Bann, who was supported by the now Minister and then Chair of the Committee, Dr Archibald. On behalf of the Committee and my party, I pay tribute to all involved in that important work, and I recommend that the Assembly vote for the regulations.

At first glance, the regulations appear to be highly technical, but behind them is something profoundly important. They are about ensuring that parents who experience the unimaginable loss of a child do not lose access to the support that, the Assembly has already agreed, they should receive.

None of us wants to imagine being put in that position. The death of a child is one of the greatest tragedies that any family could experience. While no amount of leave or financial support can ever ease that grief, we have a responsibility to ensure that parents are given the time and dignity to begin processing such an unimaginable loss without the immediate pressure of returning to work. That is what parental bereavement leave and pay are designed to do.

The regulations simply remove an expiry provision that was included when the original scheme was introduced as an interim arrangement. At that time, it was always intended that those provisions would be temporary while the longer-term framework was put in place, and now we have reached that point. Removing the expiry Clause ensures that there is no interruption to statutory parental bereavement pay and that everyone who is entitled to that support can continue to receive it. It is a small legislative change, but it provides certainty for employers, the Department and, most important, bereaved parents.

The SDLP has consistently supported stronger employment rights and workplace protections. We have also been clear that our employment law should recognise that workers are people first, with families and everything that goes with that. They have families, and they face life's joys and its deepest sorrows, and our Laws should reflect that reality with compassion. The amended regulations do exactly that. They ensure continuity, remove uncertainty around legal barriers and give effect to what was always intended when the legislation was put in place. I thank the Minister and, as mentioned by Phillip Brett, the Minister in the previous mandate, for working towards what we have today. The SDLP is happy to support the regulations.

I echo what other Members have said. Compassion is at the heart of the regulations, which are about understanding and ensuring that parents and families who have suffered the most heartbreaking and unimaginable grief are supported through one of the most difficult times in their lives. As a member of the Committee for the Economy, I thank the Minister for bringing the regulations forward and the Committee colleagues and departmental staff who have supported the Committee through the process and for supporting parents and families through an extremely difficult time.

The parental bereavement leave and pay regulations offer some assurance at a time of uncertainty, tragedy and unspeakable pain for parents and wider family circles. The regulations have been extended to ensure that they also apply to parents who have lost a child through miscarriage and that parental bereavement leave is now a day-1 employment right. The North is the first region in these islands to legislate for parental bereavement leave and pay in the case of miscarriage, which makes us not just a leader locally but one of the leaders across Europe. The way in which we are supporting families when they most need it is something that we can be proud of. I commend the regulations to the House.

I thank all the Members who spoke in support of the regulations. I reiterate my thanks to the Committee for the Economy for its scrutiny of the legislation. I am happy to commend the regulations to the Assembly.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved:

That the Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (General) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026 be approved.