Carer's leave
Any employee is entitled to take up to a week of unpaid leave each year to look after a dependant who has a physical or mental illness or injury that means they need care for more than three months, a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010 or a care need because of their old age.
A dependant is defined as an employee’s spouse, civil partner, child or parent, any person who lives in the same household as the employee (other than as a lodger or similar), or any other person who would reasonably rely on the employee to provide or arrange care. This does not have to be a family member. The employee does not need to provide evidence that they are a carer.
Employees will be able to take up a week every 12 months, with a week clarified as the length of time they normally work over a seven-day period (e.g. if an employee usually works three days a week, they can take three pro-rated days of carer’s leave a year). Carer's Leave can be taken all at once, as half days or full days.
Time off for the purpose of this policy does not include an entitlement to pay. However, it is accepted that time off needs to be considered in the context of what is reasonable for the circumstances and paid leave under this policy will be subject to the line manager’s discretion.
Carer’s leave cannot be used to provide general childcare but can be taken for a child who has long-term health or disability-related care needs. Leave for the provision of general childcare is covered by parental leave.
The amount of carer’s leave does not increase if the employee has more than one dependant in need of care, it is still a maximum of one working week every 12 months.
An employee must give notice if they intend to take carer’s leave to their line manager, specifying that they are eligible for the leave and the day(s) they intend to take it. The required notice should be twice as many days as the number of days requested, or three days if the leave is longer.
Carer’s leave is designed to cover planned time off to look after dependants. Employees needing to take emergency time off may be better off using their right to time off for dependant's leave.
Once a request has been submitted by an employee for carer’s leave, it cannot be refused. It can, however, be postponed if the University would be unduly disrupted. If that decision is taken, the University will provide written notice of the reasons for postponement and suggest some revised dates. Any re-arrangement of dates will happen in consultation with the employee.