You must take parental leave as whole weeks (e.g. 1 week or 2 weeks) rather than individual days, unless your employer agrees otherwise or if your child is disabled. You don’t have to take all the leave at once. A ‘week’ equals the length of time an employee normally works over 7 days. If an employee works 3 days a week, one ‘week’ of parental leave equals 3 days. If an employee works irregular weeks the number of days in a ‘week’ is the total number of days they work a year divided by 52. For further information visit: www.gov.uk/parental-leave Carer’s Leave www.gov.uk/carers-leave Employees are entitled to unpaid leave to give or arrange care for a ‘dependant’ who has: • A physical or mental illness or injury that means they’re expected to need care for more than 3 months • A disability (as defined in the Equality Act 2010) • Care needs because of their old age The dependant does not have to be a family member. It can be anyone who relies on them for care. Employees are entitled to Carer’s leave from their first day of work for their employer. Their employment rights (like holidays and returning to their job) are protected during Carer’s leave. How long employees can take
individual days or half days throughout the year. If an employee needs to care for more than one person, they cannot take a week of Carer’s leave for each dependant. They can only take one week every 12 months. They can use the week of leave on more than one dependant. If an employee is a parent, they can take up to 18 weeks’ leave to look after their child. This is separate to Carer’s leave. Employees with irregular working patterns Work out how much Carer’s leave the employee can take if their working hours change each week.
Add up the total number of hours worked in the previous 12 months.
Divide that total by 52 (or however many weeks since they started the job, if they’ve been in the job less than a year). This is the amount of leave they can take as Carer’s leave. If an employee wants to take Carer’s leave in their first week, use the amount they’re expected to work in a week as the amount of leave they can take. How to take Carer’s leave Employees need to give their employer notice before they want their leave to start.
If the request is for half a day or a day, the notice period must be at least 3 days.
If the request is for more than one day, the notice period must be at least twice as long as the requested leave. For example, if the request is for 2 days, the notice period must be at least 4 days. The notice period needs to be in full days, even if the request includes half day amounts.
Employees can take up to one week of leave every 12 months. A ‘week’ means the length of time they usually work over 7 days. For example, if someone usually works 3 days a week, they can take 3 days of Carer’s leave.
The request does not have to be in writing.
They can either take a whole week off or take
Employees do not need to give evidence of their dependant’s care needs.
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