For generations, British law drew a narrow circle around grief — recognizing only certain losses, certain families, certain forms of sorrow as worthy of workplace protection. Beginning in April 2026, that circle widens considerably: the Employment Rights Act now extends bereavement leave to step, adoptive, foster, and kinship relatives, and formally acknowledges early pregnancy loss as a form of grief deserving accommodation. It is a quiet but meaningful act of legal recognition — the state conceding that modern families are plural, and that loss does not sort itself neatly into the categories