Many people juggle unpaid caring duties with paid employment, leaving them tired, stressed and struggling to manage their mental and physical well-being. In 2020, it was estimated that more than 7 million people were in paid employment and also providing unpaid care. The stress of juggling both responsibilities has led to hundreds of thousands of people leaving the labour market entirely.
As a result, the Carer’s Leave Act 2023 was introduced as a Private Members’ Bill. This legislation created a new statutory leave entitlement that grants unpaid carer’s leave to employees who are caring for a dependant with a long-term care need. The government hopes that this right will ensure that carers can better balance their caring and work responsibilities and have greater support while in employment.
The Act received royal assent on 24 May 2023 and the Carer’s Leave Regulations 2024, which set out the details on how the new rights will work, are now come into force as of 6 April 2024.
In this article, we explain how this new right will work in practice and what are the practical implications for employers.
How Does Carer’s Leave Work?
As of 6 April 2024, employees who balance work and caring duties are entitled to at least one week’s unpaid leave in any twelve-period to give or arrange care for a ‘dependant’ who has a long-term care need.
The definition of ‘dependant’ mirrors the definition used for the right to time off for dependants, which includes a spouse, civil partner, parent, child, a person who resides in the same household as the employee (other than a tenant, an employee, lodger or boarder). However, a dependant does not need to be a family member - it can be anyone with a long-term care need who reasonably relies on the employee for care.
Some examples of when a carer’s leave might be taken include settling official matters such as pensions or legal documents, taking someone to a medical appointment or dealing with care homes or social services.
Who Can Take Carer’s Leave?
Employees are entitled to carer’s leave from the first day of work for their employment, meaning that there is no minimum service requirement before they can take advantage of it. Employment rights such as holiday entitlement and returning to the same job are protected during the carer’s leave.
What Will Carer’s Leave Be Used For?
To be eligible for carer’s leave, an employee must have a dependent with a long-term care need and want to be absent from work to provide or to arrange care for that dependent. They must not have exceeded their entitlement of one week of carer’s leave in the relevant 12-month period.
A ‘long-term care need’ is defined as:
- a physical or mental illness or injury that requires (or is likely to require) care for at least three months
- a disability under the Equality Act 2010
- care needs because of old age.
Carer’s leave cannot be used for short-term care needs or general childcare. It can, however, be utilised for a child who has long-term health or disability-related care needs.
It is designed to cover planned time off to look after dependents so employees needing to take emergency time off will be better off using their right to time off for dependents.
How Can Carer's Leave be Taken?
Employees are entitled to one week of leave in twelve months. A ‘week’ is the time they usually work over seven days. So, for example, if someone normally works four days a week, they can take 4 days of carer’s leave.
Carer’s leave can be used flexibly, with employees having the option to take a whole week off or take individual or half days throughout the year. They must, however, give you notice before they want their leave to start. This notice does not have to be in writing.
Where a request is for half a day or a day, the notice period is generally at least 3 days. If the request is for more than a day, the notice period must be at least twice as long as the requested leave. For example, if the request is for two days, the notice period must be at least four days.
You cannot require the employee to supply evidence concerning their request for carer’s leave before granting the leave. However, employers can take a positive approach that allows staff to self-identify as carers, for example, including a question on caring responsibilities in staff surveys.
Even if they need to care for more than one person, an employee will not be entitled to a week of carer’s leave for each dependent. They can, however, use the week of carer’s leave on more than one dependent.
Can I Refuse a Carer’s Leave Request?
Employers are not able to outright refuse a carer’s leave request but you can ask the employee to postpone it if their absence at the proposed time would cause serious disruption to your organisation.
If you do postpone the leave, you must:
- settle on another date within one month of the requested date for the leave and
- put the reason for the delay and new date in writing to the employee within seven days of the original request and before the requested start date of leave
Ideally, any re-arrangement of the leave would happen in consultation with the employee.
What Protections Does an Employee Have With Carer’s Leave?
An employee can initiate tribunal proceedings if you unreasonably postpone, prevent or attempt to prevent them from taking carer’s leave. A tribunal can make a declaration and award compensation, as it considers ‘just and equitable’, taking into account your behaviour and any consequential loss sustained by the employee.
Protection during carer’s leave is comparable to other family-related leave. Employees have the right to return to the same job and the terms of their contract should remain unchanged. They cannot be penalised or dismissed because they took or sought to take carer’s leave, or because you believed they were likely to take carer’s leave.
Practical Implications for Employers
The new legislation has a lot of parallels to the law already in place for time off for dependents. Nevertheless, Carer’s leave is a new right that you will need to consider as an additional type of leave and be aware of how it should be managed. This new right has been in force since 6 April 2024 so if you have not already done so, you should:
- create or update policies to cover the new right, then communicate these changes to the workforce and inform them of the logistics of requesting and taking it
- implement a record-keeping process so you can track the number of days or part-days of carer’s leave that employees take
- train managers on the new entitlement, how it will operate in practice and the protections given to employees who take or intend to take the leave and
- produce a ‘self-certification’ form for employees to complete, which allows them to declare that they meet the legal definition of a carer and that they will be using the leave for this purpose.
Lastly, the right to one week’s unpaid carer’s leave set out in the new legislation is a minimum requirement. As an employer, you may wish to enhance these new rights by offering to pay for some or all of an employee’s entitlement, or alternatively, increase the amount of unpaid time that they are entitled to. Some UK employers already offer enhanced carer’s leave as part of their family-friendly policies and this can have benefits such as improved retention, reduced absence and improved wellbeing.If you would like further information about the new right to carer’s leave, please contact our expert employment law team via email.
