From 6th April over two million working family carers across the UK have, for the first time, the right to access a week of unpaid Carer’s Leave.
Anybody who is working is entitled to unpaid leave to give, or arrange care for a dependant’ who has:
- A physical or mental illness or injury that means they’re expected to need care for more than 3 months
- A disability (as defined in the Equality Act 2010)
- Care needs because of their old age
This dependant does not have to be a family member, it can be anyone who relies on you for care. You do not need to give evidence of your dependant’s care needs.
Everybody is entitled to carer’s leave from their first day of work with their employer and you can take up to one week of leave every 12 months. A ‘week’ is the length of time you normally work over a 7 day period. For example, if you work for 3 days a week, you can take 3 days of carer’s leave. This leave can be taken as one ‘block, or you can take individual days or half days throughout the year.
To take your carer’s leave you need to give your employer notice, but it does not have to be in writing. Legally the notice periods is as follows but your employer may allow you a shorter notice period. If you need to look after someone in an emergency you can take time off without giving a notice period.
- If the request is for half a day or a day – you must give at least 3 days’ notice.
- If the request is for more than one day – the notice period must be at least twice as long as the time off you are requesting. For example, if the request is for 2 days, the notice period must be at least 4 days.
Although your employer cannot refuse your request for carer’s leave they can ask you to delay it if your absence would cause serious disruption to the organisation. If you are asked to delay your employer must agree another date that is within one month of your requested date, and put the reason for the delay and the new date in writing. This must be done within 7 days of your original request, and before the start date you originally requested.
If the number of hours you work each week varies the amount of hours of Carer’s Leave you can take can be calculated by adding up the total number of hours worked in the last 12 months, and dividing this total by 52. If you have been with your current employer for less than 52 weeks (a year) divide your total hours by the number of weeks you have worked at this employer.
If your employer is not sure about their obligations under The Carer’s Leave Act they can find out more from Carers UK
If you are parent you can take up to 18 weeks’ leave to look after your child and this is separate to your carer’s leave entitlement
