Carer’s Leave – April 2024
Reasons to choose Wilson Browne
As we have previously reported, new regulations for carer’s leave will come into force on 6 April 2024.
The Regulations have now been made and these provide employees with the right to take up to one week of statutory unpaid carer’s leave in a 12-month period for the purpose of caring for (or arranging care for) dependants with long-term care needs. The Regulations also protect employees from detriments and/or unfair dismissal if relating to them taking carer’s leave.
To be eligible for carer’s leave (which can be a combination of half-days or full days), an employee will need:
- to have a dependant with a long-term care need,
- want to be absent from work to provide or arrange care for that dependant,
- not have already exceeded their statutory entitlement to carer’s leave, an
- comply with specific notice requirements set out in the Regulations.
The amount of leave is dependent on the employee’s normal working pattern. For those working variable hours, reference periods will be used to calculate the entitlement. Leave does not need to be taken on consecutive days and employers can postpone leave if the taking of it unduly disrupts the business. Many organisations are updating their family friendly policies to include this new form of leave.
Posted:
Jennie Jahina
Partner
Jennie is a Partner and Head of the Employment team. A member of the Employment Lawyers Association, Jennie has 26 years’ experience and is an accredited CEDR Mediator. She acts for private sector organisations ranging from SMEs to multi-national companies and public sector organisations.