A government consultation on a proposal to give employees a week of unpaid leave each year to provide care has concluded and a new statutory entitlement to leave for unpaid carers who are balancing working alongside their caring responsibilities will be introduced.
The consultation received strong support across the range of respondent types, including individuals, businesses, charities, and trade unions. It showed the importance of flexibility in meeting the needs of unpaid carers, whose personal circumstances and responsibilities can vary greatly.
Employees will have the right to take carer’s leave to care for a spouse, partner, civil partner, child, parent, a person who lives in the same household or a person who reasonably relies on them for care. The individual being cared for must have a long-term care need. This will be defined as a long-term physical or mental illness or injury, a disability (as defined under the disability discrimination legislation) or issues relating to old age. There will be limited exemptions (for example, in the case of terminal illness).
Carer’s leave may be taken flexibly, in either individual days or half days, and up to a block of one week. Employees will be required to give notice which is twice the length of the leave being requested, plus one day. A leave request may not be denied but may be postponed by an employer where they consider that the operation of their business will be unduly disrupted.
Those taking carer’s leave will be protected from suffering a detriment for having done so, and dismissals for reasons connected with exercising the right to carer’s leave will be automatically unfair.
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