REWARD
A new right to carer’s leave
Danny Done, managing director, Portfolio Payroll, shares key things employers must consider in light of the new right to carer’s leave for eligible employees
T he Carer’s Leave Act 2023 and the Carer’s Leave Regulations 2024 introduce a brand new right for eligible employees to have unpaid time off work to provide or arrange care for a dependant who has a long-term care need. This new right applies to eligible employees in England, Wales and Scotland, from 6 April 2024. So, as the implementation date is just around the corner, we’ll explore what employers need to be aware of and what it means in practice. Who is eligible? The right to take carer’s leave applies to employees who have a dependant with a long-term care need. It applies from day one of employment so there’s no minimum service requirement and employees don’t need to provide any evidence of their eligibility. A person is a dependant of an employee if they: l are a spouse, or civil partner, or child or parent of the employee l live in the same household as the employee; however, this doesn’t include the employee’s boarder, employee, lodger or tenant l reasonably rely on the employee to provide or arrange care. A dependant of an employee has a long- term care need if any of the below apply: l they have an illness or injury (whether physical or mental) that requires, or is likely to require, care for more than three months l they have a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 l they require care for a reason connected with their old age. When can the leave be used? Employees already have the right to reasonable time off for dependants to deal
with an emergency involving a dependant. This might be taken, for example, when an employee’s child falls ill while at school, so the employee needs to leave to pick them up. Time off for dependants is to deal with the emergency that has arisen and not for employees to use when they knew about the situation beforehand. “This new right applies to eligible employees in England, Wales and Scotland, from 6 April 2024” This new right, however, will entitle eligible employees to take planned leave to provide care, or to make arrangements for it, when there isn’t an emergency. It’s important to remember, however, that carer’s leave can only be taken when the dependant meets the criteria of having a ‘long-term care need’. The government previously stated that carer’s leave could be used for a wide variety of caring activities including: l providing personal support l providing practical support l helping with official or financial matters l making arrangements. How long is carer’s leave? An eligible employee is entitled to a maximum of one week’s leave per 12 month rolling period. A ‘week’ is the length of time the employee would normally be expected or required to work in a week at the time of making a request to take carer’s leave. When an employee’s working hours vary or they have been employed for fewer than 52 weeks, there are set calculations to use to work out the week of leave.
Employees are given the option to take the leave as half or full-days, up to and including taking a block of a whole week of leave at once. How does an employee request carer’s leave? Employees who want to take a period of carer’s leave should make a request to their employer. There are certain procedural requirements that the employee must satisfy as certain information must be included in the request and appropriate notice given to the employer before taking leave. The required notice is the longer of: l double the amount of time requested to be taken as carer’s leave for that instance, or l a period of three days. Carer’s leave can be postponed where an employer reasonably considers that the operation of the business would be unduly disrupted if the employee took carer’s leave at the time requested. Employers must give notice as soon as is reasonably practicable and, following consultation with the employee, confirm a new date on which they can take the leave which is within a month of the original date(s) requested. Make sure you’re prepared From 6 April 2024, for those that are eligible, carer’s leave will be a statutory right. So, they’re entitled to the benefit of their normal terms and conditions, except for pay, while taking this leave. They have the right to return to the same job, and are protected from suffering a detriment, being dismissed or selected for redundancy, because they have requested or taken carer’s leave. It’s crucial, therefore, that employers understand this new right and what this means in practice, to avoid the risk of any employment tribunal claims. n
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | March 2024 | Issue 98 48
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