Under the new rules, from 6 April 2024 employees will have a new statutory right from day one of their employment to take up to five days of unpaid carer’s leave every 12 months.

They can either take the five days, or pro rata entitlement, in a single block or take individual days or half days throughout the year.

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 are expected to need care for more than three months, a disability (as defined in the Equality Act 2010), or 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.

The government guidance states ‘employees do not need to give evidence of their dependant’s care needs’ and requests do not have to be in writing, although they must be given with sufficient notice, for example four days in advance for a request for two days’ carer’s leave.

In addition, ‘employers 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’. Even if they refuse they must the employee carer’s leave within one month.

An estimated 2.3 million workers could benefit from the new rules for carers’ leave, which came into force on 6 April 2024, across England, Scotland and Wales.

The new rights are particularly important as previous Carers UK research shows around 600 people a day give up work to care due to a lack of flexibility and support.  

With 317,000 directors, managers and senior staff juggling employment and caring responsibilities, this is an issue faced by employees throughout organisations, from the board to the most junior member of staff.  

Research by Carers UK showed that the sectors with the highest numbers of unpaid carers are public administration, education and health (976,000). This is followed by distribution, hotels and restaurants sector (443,000) and financial, real estate, professional and administrative (396,000).  

Helen Walker, chief executive of Carers UK, said: ‘Juggling work with caring responsibilities isn’t easy and without the right support, this can take its toll. Too many skilled and valued workers are leaving employment due to the stress of juggling and unpaid care.  

‘Now every employer in the country must recognise carers in the workplace, employees can be confident speaking about their caring role – kickstarting a crucial conversation about the support they need to stay in work, which matters not just for carers, but for employers and the economy, too.’ 

While the new carer’s leave entitlement is unpaid, some employers offer much more supportive packages to their staff. 

Chris O’Shea, group chief executive at Centrica, owner of British Gas, said: ‘Carers do amazing work, most of it unseen. Juggling a job and caring can be a real struggle, emotionally and financially, which is why we’ve worked with Carers UK for the last 20 years to help demonstrate the economic case for supporting carers in the workplace.

‘At Centrica, we provide paid carers leave, flexible working and a support network for our working carers.

‘Not only is it the right thing to do, there is a clear business case for supporting carers, including better colleague satisfaction and retention.

‘The introduction of five days statutory carer’s leave through the Carer’s Leave Act is a great step forward and will make an enormous difference to all working carers in the UK.’

Need help with HR questions?

Find out more about Croner-i’s CIPD HR-inform platform – sign up for FREE and keep up to date with daily HR news, Q&As and webinar recordings

Gov.uk guidance, Unpaid carer's leave