Carers Leave

The Carers Leave Act 2023 has been given Royal Assent and is due to become law as early as April 2024. The Act will introduce a legal right for carers to take a week of unpaid leave each year. This leave will be available to employees from the start of their employment and can be used flexibly. Employees will have the same employment protection to take this leave as other forms of family-related leave. This means carers are protected from any discrimination for taking time off.

Your employer may provide you with a contractual right to either paid or unpaid leave for you to use for things like taking the person you care for to medical appointments. You could ask your line manager or check your employment contract to see if this is something that your workplace provides.

Even if they don’t officially have this in place for carers, if you are struggling and feel you could benefit from some time off work to support the person you care for, it may be worth approaching them to see whether they could help. This may fall under the category of ‘compassionate leave’, ‘discretionary leave’, or ‘special leave’. It is entirely up to them whether they offer this, how long they will give you, and whether it is paid or unpaid.

Carersuk have more infomation about the Carers Leave Act 2023.