Carers are to receive 1 week of unpaid leave a year
Posted on 8th November 2022 at 14:10
On 21st October the new law, The Carer’s Leave Bill, backed by the government allows employees who provide or arrange care for a dependant with long-term care needs to take one week of unpaid leave per year..
Unpaid carers will receive support regardless of how long they have worked, thanks to The Carer’s Leave, which is available from the first day of employment for eligible employees.
The leave can be taken flexibly to suit their caring obligations and employees will not need to provide evidence of how it will be used or for whom. This ensures a smoother process for both businesses and their employees.
The potential watch-out for businesses is to be mindful of the questions asked during the interview stages, as it would be deemed discriminatory to not employ an individual, should they express to you that they care for a friend or relative outside of work.
The average employee will now have holiday entitlement, bank holiday entitlement, family leave entitlements, sickness absence entitlement, parental leave entitlement, and flexible working request entitlement. All of these policies do have their own criteria but nonetheless, it is still a good chunk of time an employee is entitled to have off, which could quickly become an issue if not monitored and managed correctly.
For employers who are aware they have employees with caring responsibilities, it may be an idea to track the amount and types of time off an employee has using HR data and reporting systems.
If you would like to discuss how this affects your business or require a policy for this, please get in touch:
hello@humberhrpeople.co.uk or call us on 01482 738 447.
For further information please visit:
Share this post: