The new right to carer’s leave

A new right

In December 2023 the Carer’s Leave Regulations 2024 were laid before Parliament. These Regulations, which are due to come into force on 6 April 2024, set out the framework under which your employees will be able to take statutory carer’s leave. Whilst the right to such leave will be a day-one employment right, any time off that’s taken for this reason does not have to be paid, i.e. this is an unpaid statutory right.

How much?

In any twelve-month period, an employee will be able to apply to take up to one week’s unpaid carer’s leave if they have a dependant with a long-term care need and they wish to be absent from work to provide and/or arrange care for them. Unlike other types of statutory leave, carer’s leave is fully flexible which means that your employees will be able to request consecutive and non-consecutive half days or full days of work in a way that best suits their needs.

Giving notice.

Where an employee wishes to take carer’s leave, they will need to give you written notice of their intention and give you the longer of either three days’ notice or twice the amount of notice of the period of carer’s leave that they’ve requested. Where an employee asserts their right to take carer’s leave, they must not be subjected to any detriment or be dismissed for that reason. Where an employee is dismissed on these grounds, it will be an automatically unfair dismissal.

If an employee taking carer’s leave will unduly disrupt your business, you can give them notice of postponement. This notice must be given before the carer’s leave commences and you must explain why this postponement is necessary. Tip. In this situation, you must permit the carer’s leave to then be taken within one month of the start date of the leave dates originally requested. Only postpone carer’s leave if it is absolutely necessary from a business perspective and never do so simply because the employee’s selected dates are a bit awkward or tricky. There must be a genuine business need.