Unpaid Leave - what are employees in the UK entitled to?
Unpaid leave is a valuable tool for employees who need flexibility with working hours. In the UK, employees can request two main types of unpaid leave: Parental Leave and Carer’s Leave. By understanding the entitlements and communicating openly, employees and employers can navigate unpaid leave fairly and effectively.
Unpaid Parental Leave in the UK
Parents can ask to take unpaid leave to look after their child’s welfare. There are many reasons why you might need this option, and you are entitled to a total of 18 weeks of leave for each of your children up until they are 18.
This leave isn’t designed for days off here and there; it’s for taking full weeks off. Generally, you can take up to four weeks a year unless your employer agrees to more. The week of leave equals your normal working week, so if you work part-time, you get your normal working hours off.
Normal employment rights (like the right to pay, holidays and returning to a job) are protected during unpaid parental leave.
Who is eligible for unpaid parental leave in the UK?
Your employer legally has to consider your request if you have been with the company for more than a year, you’re named on the child’s birth or adoption certificate, and your child is under 18. Some employers may consider requests outside of those government eligibility rules.
To request unpaid parental leave, you must give 21 days notice and state how many weeks you want to take. Employers can’t postpone your leave if they don’t have a ‘significant reason’ for doing so. Or if you are a father or partner taking it after the birth of a child.
For full details on Parental Leave, head over to the government website.
Unpaid Carer’s Leave in the UK
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’re expected to need care for more than 3 months
a disability (as defined in the Equality Act 2010)
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. Unlike parental leave, employees are entitled to carer’s leave from their first day of work.
Again, employment rights (like holidays and returning to their job) are protected during carer’s leave.
How much leave are employees entitled to as a carer?
Employees are entitled to one week of leave every 12 months. A ‘week’ means the time they usually work over 7 days. For example, if someone usually works 3 days a week, they can take 3 days of carer’s leave. You can use those days off as you need, allowing for taking half days or full days off, with the total equally your normal working week in that year.
What about employees with irregular working patterns?
To work out how much carer’s leave an employee can take if their working hours change each week, add up the total number of hours worked in the previous 12 months and divide that total by 52 (or however many weeks since they started the job, if they’ve been in the job less than a year). This is the number of hours they are allowed to take off in that year.
How to take carer’s leave in the UK
Employees need to give their employer notice of their leave request. Notice periods change depending on how long you need off. If the request is for half a day or a day, the notice period must be at least 3 days. If the request is for more than one day, the notice period must be at least twice as long as the requested leave. For example, if the request is for 3 days, the notice period must be at least 6 days.
The request doesn’t have to be in writing, and employees don't need to provide evidence of their dependent’s care needs.
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.
Managing unpaid leave in StaffSavvy
It’s easy to add a period of unpaid leave for employees in StaffSavvy. If the employee has holiday enabled and they are taking unpaid leave, we call this a 'Planned Absence' in the system. An employee can request their own planned absence or a manager can add it to the system for them. If the employee doesn’t have holiday enabled, all their requests will be 'time off' and unpaid. So those employees can put in a time off request as normal.