Statutory carers leave - did you know about it?

As of April last year (2024), employees who care for someone else - usually a family member - with a long-term health need have been entitled to up to one week's unpaid leave per year for caring purposes. 

A typical usage of this right might be an employee whose elderly parent needs to move into a new care home. The employee needs some time off to manage the transition, but they don’t have sufficient holiday to cover that time. What can they do?

Leave can be booked in increments of half a day or higher. If they want to take less than 1.5 days’ leave in one go, they must give three days’ notice. If they want to take more than that, they must give twice the notice as time requested. (So for example, if they want to take four days of leave, they need to give eight days of notice.) If notice is given correctly, the employer must give them the time off, but this leave can be unpaid.

This legal change should be reflected in your internal HR policies. If you’d like support to do this, and/or would like to chat through other options for supporting carers amongst your workforce, message me.