The Right to Carer’s Leave

The Carer’s Leave Act 2023 provides a new and flexible entitlement to one week’s unpaid leave per year for employees in England, Scotland and Wales who are providing or arranging care for a relative or dependant with a long-term care need and will come into force on 6 April 2024.

A dependant includes the employee’s husband, wife or partner, child or parent, or someone living with them as part of their family. Others who rely on them to provide or arrange care may also qualify.

A dependant has a long-term care need if they have an illness or injury (whether physical or mental) that requires, or is likely to require, care for more than three months, a disability (as covered by the Equality Act 2010) or require care for a reason connected with their old age.

The right is available from the first day of employment and allows employees to take the leave flexibly for planned and foreseen caring commitments.

It offers the same employment protections to employees taking this leave that are associated with other forms of family related leave, meaning they will be protected from dismissal or any detriment because of having taken time off.

For more information, visit https://www.gov.uk/carers-leave

Carers UK has produced a detailed implementation guide which covers:

• Why the Act has been introduced, including latest facts about carers in the workplace
• Key provisions of the Act (including FAQs)
• Tips on implementing the new law, including good practice examples.

Download: Carer’s Leave Act implementation guide

We have also developed a training slide deck covering key training points for you to roll out to your managers. This covers the key provisions of the Act and practical tips for line managers.

Download: Training slide deck – PowerPoint

Download: Training slide deck – PDF

As part of your Employers for Carers membership, you are entitled to a free lunch and learn per year which you may use as an online training session for your organisation about the Carer’s Leave Act, tailored to your sector and your audience. This will include:

• The business case for supporting working carers
• Identifying carers and promoting caring issues in the workplace
• The content of the Act
• Good practice examples.

If your organisation has already used your annual free lunch and learn session, you may purchase an additional session.

Enhanced Carer’s Leave

A number of Employers for Carers member organisations already offer carer’s leave which goes beyond the new right, either by providing this as paid leave, or offering additional days of unpaid leave if required. 

The new statutory right may be enhanced by an employer and where an employer does offer a contractual right to carer’s leave, employees cannot take advantage of both their contractual and statutory rights separately. Employees may, however, choose to take advantage of whichever right is more favourable, and the overall protection given by the statutory right will always apply. If your organisation currently offers paid carer’s leave for planned/foreseen caring situations, it would be good practice to retain and promote provisions that go beyond the statutory minimum.

Examples of employers who provide carers leave.

Emergency Leave

People with caring responsibilities can’t always plan ahead – accidents or illnesses can occur without warning and care arrangements can break down unexpectedly.

Emergency leave is therefore important to carers, who can be called upon at short notice on such occasions. Employers are required by law to give a “reasonable” amount of time off for emergencies involving a dependent. Although this does not have to be paid, many employers do pay.

View information on the statutory right to time off in emergencies.

Other Leave options relevant to carers

• Compassionate leave – a period of absence that is granted to someone as a result of particular personal circumstances. This can be paid or unpaid.
• Matched leave – This type of leave means that for the amount of annual leave days an employee takes, the organisation matches in Carer’s Leave. This can be paid or unpaid
• Career breaks – Employers can offer their workforce a career break which is a prolonged period of time when an employee will not be working. The employer can set out their career break policy and include information on eligibility and notice periods, how they can apply and how long is allowed.

Good practice examples

• It may be beneficial to log an employee’s Carer’s Leave or Emergency Leave through an HR system where an automated process can notify managers of the frequency of their employee’s leave and prompt a further conversation about support and adjustments that the organisation can offer them.
• Once an employee has identified themselves as a carer, and with the appropriate consent process in place, the manager could be notified and information about how to support their employee provided so that they will be aware and informed of what to do in the event of their employee needing to take time off to care.
• Employers can ultimately decide how many days of Carer’s Leave are allocated in addition to the statutory right of up to five unpaid days, and some allow for a few hours to be taken at a time rather than a day as a whole. This enables the carer to be flexible and take as little or as much time as they need.
• Carer’s Leave policies are often supported by a champion or an executive sponsor which gives the policy traction and ensures that employees are aware and make use of it.
• In your organisation’s Leave Policy, it is important and helpful to list out the types of scenarios that the policy applies to and how employees can apply for it.
• Many employers monitor the uptake of their Leave Policies to be able to assess how well used they are and whether they require any development. Carers, whether through a staff survey or a network, are often consulted in the creation and development of a Carers Leave Policy and asked what they would like from the Policy.