Carer’s leave

Who is eligible for carer’s leave?

Carer’s leave will be available to employees only (ie workers and consultants will not be eligible). It will only be available to those who have to provide or arrange for the long-term care of a dependant. 

Who is considered a dependant?

For the purposes of carer’s leave, the relationship of ‘dependant’ is the same as for the right to take time off for dependants. Such dependants include:

• spouses and civil partners

• children (including adopted and step-children)

• parents

• anyone who lives in the same household as the employee (other than by reason of them being their employee, tenant, lodger, or boarder), and

• anyone who reasonably relies on the employee for care (eg  grandparents,  siblings, or even neighbours, if they depend on the employee for care)

Which kinds of care is the right applicable to?

To be eligible, the person being cared for by the employee taking (or requesting to take) carer’s leave must have a long-term care need. This is either: 

• a physical or mental illness or injury that requires or is likely to require care for more than three months

• a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010, or

• issues related to old age

The types of care that can be provided are broad. They include the employee:

• providing care themselves 

• making arrangements for their dependant to be cared for by someone else, and

• providing practical support (eg helping their dependant with financial or other official matters)

When do employees gain the right to carer’s leave?

Employees will have the right to take carer’s leave from their first day of employment. In other words, employees who meet the eligibility criteria set out above won’t need to have worked for their employer for a minimum period before they become entitled to and can take carer’s leave.

Employees only have the right to take unpaid carer’s leave as a day-one right. Employers can choose to pay their employees for this leave, but are under no obligation to do so.

How much carer’s leave can be taken?

Eligible employees can take up to one week of unpaid leave per year.  Carer’s leave can either be taken in one block of one week or as individual days or half days.

Can employees be penalised for taking carer’s leave?

Employees are protected from being penalised for taking (or requesting to take) carer’s leave.  Any employee taking carer’s leave has the right to return to their job with the same terms of employment (eg holiday or pay), seniority and position as they had before taking the leave.

It is against the law to dismiss or treat an employee worse because they have taken (or have asked to take) carer’s leave. Any  such dismissal may be automatically unfair. If an Employment Tribunal finds a dismissal to be automatically unfair, then the employer may also have to reinstate the employee (ie give them their job back) or re-engage the employee (ie re-employ them in a different job) and pay compensation.

Employers will likely be able to take disciplinary action against anyone who makes a false application or misleads them in some other way regarding their right to carer’s leave.

How can carer’s leave be taken?

Carer’s leave can be taken by an employee giving notice to their employer in advance. This notice doesn’t need to be in writing. The length of notice an employee will need to provide will be at least:

• three full days’ notice if the employee wishes to take either half a day or one whole day

• at least  twice the length of the leave requested (rounded up to full days) if employees intend to have more than one day’s leave  

For example, if an employee wanted to take two days of carer’s leave, they would have to give at least four days’ notice to their employer. 

If an employee has irregular or variable working hours (eg teachers who only work during term time or bar staff who have different hours each week), then to determine their carer’s leave they should:

• add up their total working hours over the past 12 months, and

• divide the total by 52 (or however many weeks they’ve been working if they’ve been employed with the relevant employer for less than a year)

Employers cannot turn down employee requests for carer’s leave but can ask an employee to postpone taking requested carer’s leave if they believe that the operation of the business would be seriously disrupted by the employee taking leave at a requested time. If the employer needs to postpone a carer’s leave, they must:

• agree on a new date for the employee to take their carer’s leave which falls within one month of the original date

• provide written reasoning for delaying the leave within seven days of either the request being made or before the leave starts (whichever is earlier)

Employees do not have to provide evidence to prove that they need to take leave to care for someone. Instead, they can self-certify that they qualify for carer’s leave.

How does carer’s leave interact with other types of leave?

Carer’s leave is aims to bolster the leave entitlements that already exist in the UK. Specifically, carer’s leave is designed to assist employees with long-term caring responsibilities. There are various types of leave already in place (eg time off for dependants, unpaid parental leave, or even annual leave) that should instead be used for short-term care needs.

For more information on different types of leave, read Family leave and rights.

Practical implications of carer’s leave for employers

As these employee rights for carer’s leave are now in effect, to help them comply with the employment law, employers should consider:

• making or updating existing policies to inform employees about their right to take carer’s leave and how this works

• making a carer’s leave self-certification form for employees to complete when they request carer’s leave

• ensuring adequate record-keeping is in place to track how many days of carer’s leave employees have taken

• offering additional support to employees (eg allowing them to work more flexibility, such as from home or at different times)

• ensuring managers are aware of the right to take carer’s leave, highlighting the potentially sensitive nature of this type of leave and clarifying that dismissal connected to carer’s leave may be automatically unfair

Employers should also consider whether they want to offer enhanced rights (eg offering paid carer’s leave rather than unpaid carer’s leave).

To find out more, see Acas’ guidance on carer’s leave. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to Ask a lawyer.

If you wish to adopt a bespoke policy addressing carer’s leave, consider using our Bespoke drafting service.