I recently had to take almost 2 weeks off work to attend a couple of funerals (and look after my mum for a bit). Work were very understanding and happily gave me some time off. Now I’m back, I’m being asked to fill in a self cert for one week of illness and get a GP note to cover me for the rest – this strikes me as a bit dishonest as there was no health reason for me to be off work. Are my employers being dodgy, or are they just trying to give me a simpler way to account for my absence?

Think they can claim SSP if you are off but I would ask them might be just how they account for it. Do you have compassionate leave in your T & C we do but I forget how much you are allowed but it is more for a close relatives eg partner or parent.
The alternative may be unpaid leave or holidays as i dont think there is a legal entitlement to compassionate leave and claiming you wereill may be a simple way round this for everyone.
Does it affect anything else? Do they use formulas/periods to calculate absence o and have hearings/chats/records above a certain number?

I suspect Junkyard is right. 2 weeks is a lot of compassionate leave anyway.

Personally I’d demand that I took it off as un-paid leave.

Your GP is unlikely (and hopefully not allowed!) to retrospectively issue a sick-note to cover time off work for something other than being ill.
I get a couple of days but it’s supposed to be for pretty close family, having to use it next week for a funeral. For what I needed last week I used some of my annual leave & the rest i’ll owe them in hours in the future.
It goes on our timesheet as a particular booking number, which I assume gets absorbed by the company as a whole, so perhaps their way of covering you for taking more than is technically permissible in the Ts&Cs?

If it’s compasionate leave then how can they get you to put in a sick note claim! If your contract doesn’t allow you to take compassionate leave then it would normally go unpaid. Mine allows a certain amount, can’t remember without looking

Unpaid leave of abscence,with permission, otherwise youre going to have 2 weeks sick on your record, and we all know to many sickies take you to the top of the sacking/redundancy list dont we.

Compassionate leave is dependant on so many factors and is at the discretion of the company. Go see either HR or your line manager.

My employer (Kimberly Clark) were very understanding when my sister took her life. They said 1 week compassionate leave is the norm, but I had 3 weeks off and when I returned to work they put it down as 3 weeks compassionate leave on full pay. Also they are very good for things like funerals/family emergencies etc.