The Carer's Leave Act

The Carer's Leave Act has opened up many more possibilities for carers who are employed. These changes came into effect on the 6 April 2024.

• The Carer's Leave Act covers employees in England, Wales and Scotland.
• Employees are entitled to one week’s unpaid leave per year if providing or arranging care for someone with a long-term care need.
• This leave can be taken flexibly (in half or full days) for planned and foreseen caring commitments.
• It is available from the first day of employment.
• It provides the same employment protections to employees as other forms of family-related leave, including protection from dismissal.

Questions and answers

Before approaching your employer, you may wish to seek some clarity on the facts about the new law. To help you find the information you're looking for, we have broken these down into three sections:
1/ The basics, 2/ Timings and 3/ Other concerns.

1/ The basics

Any employee who is providing or arranging care for someone with a long-term care need is entitled to take this leave.

This includes if you are caring for someone with a physical or mental illness or injury, a disability, or care needs because of their old age. The person you are caring for may be a family member or someone else who relies on you for care.

The right to take carer’s leave is available from the first day of your employment and applies to full-time and part-time employees.

The Carer’s Leave Act will became law on 6 April 2024.

Carers UK has led the campaign for the introduction of carer’s leave for decades and we’re delighted to see it has now become law.

The Carer’s Leave Act introduces a new entitlement to leave for employees who are ‘providing or arranging care’ for someone with a long-term care need

The law doesn’t state what type of care this includes but it is intended to cover a range of caring situations. These could include things like taking someone to a medical appointment, supporting someone with personal care, arranging visits with health professionals or organising care for the future.

The law also states that an employer can’t require an employee to supply evidence that they are caring so it is up to you to identify that you are caring and are requesting the leave.

You can take carer's leave in half or full days, up to and including a block of a whole week of leave at once. You can take up to one week of carer’s leave a year (ie within a 12 month period).

This leave is intended for planned and foreseen caring commitments. If the situation is urgent, employees have the legal right to take a reasonable amount of time off work to deal with an emergency involving someone who relies on them for help (as a dependant). Information about time off for emergencies is here: Taking time off when needed | Carers UK

You should also confirm to your employer:

• that you are requesting carer’s leave (to provide or arrange care for a dependant with a long-term care need) and
• the specific days (or half days) you require for the leave. Your notice does not have to be in writing, but you will need to provide this information to your employer.
  

Under the new Act, you should give your employer notice of carer’s leave:

• at least three days in advance if you are requesting a half day, or single day, of leave
• at least twice as many days as your requested leave period if you are applying for two or more consecutive days’ leave. (For example, if your request is for two days leave, you will need to give four days’ notice).

2/ The timings

The law gives carers who are balancing unpaid care with paid employment the legal right to five days of unpaid carer’s leave.

Under the Carer’s Leave Act, the amount of time that an employee can request is up to one working week within a 12 month period.

A week is defined by your contract with your employer:

• If you are a full-time employee, this will normally be five days.
• If you are a part-time employee, this will be your contracted hours rounded up to the nearest half day.
• If you are on a variable week-to-week contract, this will be how many hours you have worked for your employer (up to 1 year) divided by the number of weeks you have worked for your employer (rounded up to the nearest half day and up to a maximum of 5 days).
• If you want to take carer’s leave in your first week of employment, your employer should calculate this by using the amount you are expected to work in a week as the amount of leave you can take. (For example, if your normal working week will be five days, your entitlement to carer’s leave will be five days within a 12 month period).

One week per year is the maximum leave that employees are entitled to under the Carer’s Leave Act, regardless of how many dependants they may be supporting (who have a long-term care need).

For example, if you need to care for more than one person, you cannot take a week of carer’s leave for each dependant. However, you can use your entitlement to a week’s carer’s leave on more than one dependant (eg three days to care for one person and two days to care for another).

However, some employers already offer carer’s leave beyond the new legal minimum so also check what your workplace provides.