December 12, 2023
The Act gives employees new rights relating to caring for dependants. Our Employment Team looks at how the Act may affect organisations and what employers should be doing next to prepare for it.
The Carer’s Leave Act gives employees a day one right to take one week’s unpaid leave each year in order to provide or arrange care for a dependant with a long-term care need.
Whilst we await further regulations that will provide the detail, employees will not be able to exercise the new right yet, with the expected implementation date likely to be April 2024.
Who can take carer’s leave?
Carer’s leave under the Act can be taken by employees who are providing or arranging care for a dependant with a long-term care need. A ‘dependant’ includes a spouse, civil partner, child, parent, a person who lives in the same household as the employee, or a person who reasonably relies on the employee for care.
When may carer’s leave be used?
The Act defines a ‘long-term care need’ as an illness or injury (physical or mental) that requires or is likely to require care for more than 3 months, a disability under the Equality Act 2010, or care related to old age.
Carer’s leave will also be available where an employee makes arrangement for the provision of care. This may cover situations such as accompanying a dependant to medical and other appointments, helping with official or financial matters, and providing personal or medical care.
The Government has emphasised that carer’s leave should be used for long-term care and that other types of leave should be used for dealing with short-term care, such as “emergency time off for dependants” leave.
What are the practical considerations?
The Act provides that carer’s leave can be taken as the employee wishes, being in one block or as single days or half days. Eligibility can be self-certified and the employee will not be required to provide evidence (although employers may request evidence if they have grounds to suspect the employee is not being honest about their reason for taking the leave).
When requesting the leave, employees will need to give notice that is twice the duration of the leave being requested plus one day. Employers cannot deny the request, but are able to postpone it if they consider that the operation of their work or business would be substantially disrupted. Employees cannot be penalised for taking the leave.
What should employers do right now?
As a minimum, employers should ensure that they have a legally compliant carer’s leave policy in place by April 2024. This could be a new standalone policy or one that is added to an existing Staff Handbook. Please get in touch if you need help with putting a policy in place.
If you require assistance with any of the above, please contact a member of our employment team, Damian Phillips, on 02920 829 126 or DPhillips@darwingray.com for a free initial chat to see how we can help you.
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