What is Carer's Leave and how much can I take?

Full answer

Carer's Leave, introduced by the Carer's Leave Act and in force from 6 April 2024, gives employees a statutory right to take time off work specifically to provide or arrange care, separate from -- and often confused with -- Carer's Allowance, which is an entirely different, means-tested state benefit. **What Carer's Leave actually provides** Eligible employees can take up to 1 week (calculated as your normal working week -- so 5 days for someone working a standard 5-day week, pro-rated for part-time workers) of Carer's Leave per year. It is a 'day-one' employment right, meaning there is no minimum length of service required before you can use it, unlike many other employment rights that require a qualifying period. **Who counts as a 'dependant' with a long-term care need** The leave is available to care for a spouse, civil partner, child, parent, or someone who lives in the same household as the employee (excluding tenants, lodgers, or employees), or any other person who reasonably relies on the employee for care, where that person has a long-term care need -- defined broadly as an illness or injury (physical or mental) likely to require care for more than 3 months, a disability as defined under the Equality Act 2010, or care needs connected with old age. **Crucially, it is unpaid** Unlike Statutory Sick Pay, Maternity Pay, or Neonatal Care Pay, Carer's Leave itself carries NO statutory pay entitlement -- it is unpaid leave, though some employers voluntarily choose to pay it as an enhanced benefit. This is the single most common point of confusion: Carer's Leave is a right to TIME OFF, not a right to an INCOME. **How it differs from Carer's Allowance** Carer's Allowance is a completely separate, means-tested state benefit (not an employment right) paid to people who provide at least 35 hours of care a week to someone receiving a qualifying disability benefit, subject to the carer's own earnings being below a specific weekly limit. You can potentially claim Carer's Allowance (based on your caring hours and the disabled person's benefits) entirely independently of whether you also take any employer-provided Carer's Leave -- one is a workplace right to time off, the other is a state income benefit, and neither depends on the other. **Worked example** An employee's elderly mother, who lives in a separate household, has a long-term health condition requiring ongoing care coordination -- arranging home care visits, attending medical appointments, and occasional emergency support. The employee takes their full 1-week annual Carer's Leave entitlement (5 days, unpaid, since their employer does not enhance it) to handle a particularly demanding period of appointments and care arrangements. Separately, because they also provide at least 35 hours of hands-on care most weeks and their own earnings are below the relevant limit, they may also be eligible to claim Carer's Allowance, a weekly cash benefit, entirely independently of the employer leave they took. **How to take it** Carer's Leave can be taken flexibly, as full or half-days, rather than only as one continuous block, and employees generally only need to give notice (typically twice the length of the leave requested, plus one day, or 3 days if requesting a half-day) rather than provide evidence of the caring responsibility, unlike some other forms of leave.

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