Employees are now entitled to take one week of unpaid leave in a rolling 12-month period to provide or arrange care for their dependent with a long-term care need.
This applies to those caring for a spouse, civil partner, child, parent, or other dependant with a disability, old age, or illness/injury (whether physical or mental) requiring at least three months of care.
Leave can be taken in individual days or half days, up to a block of one week. Employees are required to give no less than 3 days notice before taking leave.
However, if the period of leave required is greater, the notice period may be twice as many days as the period of leave required. This notice does not necessarily have to be in writing.
Employers cannot require evidence in relation to the leave request before granting the leave.
This means that employees do not have to provide proof of their family responsibilities in order to take leave.
Further, an employer cannot decline the leave request but may postpone the leave if necessary to ensure that this fits with the needs of the business.
ONS reports that 400,000 people in paid employment are providing over 50 hours of care per week, with over 1.4 million providing between 0-19 hours of care a week.
This disproportionately affects women than men, with women having a 50:50 chance of providing care by the time they are 46 and men having the same chance by the time they are 57.
Given the number of employees providing unpaid care work, this new entitlement is likely to be a welcome change.
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