The Carer's Leave Act 2023 provides carers with one week of unpaid leave per year, available from day one of employment.
From 6 April 2024, employees will be entitled to unpaid leave to give or arrange care for a ‘dependant’ who has:
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a physical or mental illness or injury that means they’re expected to need care for more than 3 months
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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.
How long employees can take
Employees can take up to one week of leave every 12 months. A ‘week’ means the length of time usually worked over 7 days (for example, if someone usually works 3 days a week, they can take 3 days of carer’s leave). The leave can be taken as a whole week off or individual days/half days throughout the year.
If the employee cares for more than one person they cannot take a week of leave for each dependent.
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, more details can be found under
parental leave.
How to take carer’s leave
Employees need to give PCI Pal notice before they want their leave to start:
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If the request is for half a day or a day, the notice period must be at least 3 days.
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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.
The request, along with the reasons for the leave, should be put in writing to your line manager. Employees do not need to give evidence of their dependant’s care needs.
If you need to look after someone in an emergency please see the
time off for dependents policy, which does not require any notice period.
When employers can delay carer’s leave
PCI Pal cannot refuse a carer’s leave request but can ask the employee to take it at a different time. They can only do this if the employee’s absence would cause serious disruption to the organisation.
If PCI Pal do decide to delay it they will:
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agree another date within one month of the requested date for the leave
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put the reason for the delay and new date in writing to the employee within 7 days of the original request, and before the requested start date of the leave
