Fórsa has welcomed the decision to align bereavement leave for staff in the education sector with those in other areas of the public sector.

All education workers will now be entitled to twenty days bereavement leave should they sadly experience the death of a spouse, partner or child.

Fórsa’s head of education Andy Pike said that the announcement was a hugely positive development.

“Our members across the education sector will now have access to the enhanced bereavement leave as do public servants in other sectors. This means those employed in the education sector will be afforded twenty days paid leave instead of the previous five,” he explained.

Andy said that this additional leave will help to support all education workers who experience such grief.

“Although this cannot offset the emotional trauma and pain someone may feel in such an event, the additional paid leave is a support to all staff in these distressing times. We are talking about people dealing with the loss of a partner, son or daughter. We made the case that everyone in these tragic circumstances experiences tremendous grief, regardless of the sector they work in,” he said.

Fórsa first lodged a claim with the then Department of Education and Skills back in 2019 seeking access to the bereavement leave available to other workers in the public sector.

Employers stubbornly refused to concede the request which urged the group of unions to threaten take the issue to the Labour Court.

Rather than explain their position to the Court, both Government Departments have now decided to concede the claim.

Fórsa is now discussing the implementation of these new arrangements with the Department of Education, and will issue further updates members with progress.