April has seen the introduction of new legislation in the shape of The Carer’s Leave Regulations 2024 and also changes to some existing legislation via The Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024. So what’s new, what’s changed and what do you need to know as an employer?
Carer’s Leave
First off let’s look at Carer’s Leave and what that means for employers and any of their employees who are also carers. From this month, employees who are carers for their dependents with a long-term care need will be able to apply for up to one week of unpaid carer’s leave, in any 12 month period. Unlike some other areas of employment law there is no qualifying service criteria and this is a day one employment right.
Requests to use the one week of carer’s leave can be in consecutive, or non-consecutive, half-days or full days and employees must give notice of their intention to take carer’s leave. According to the regulations that notice should be at least twice the amount of the period of leave requested.
In addition, employers will be allowed to postpone a request for carer’s leave if it would cause significant operational disruption to their business. In those circumstances, the employer must give notice of the postponement before the leave was due to begin, and must explain to the employee why the postponement is necessary. The employer must then allow the leave to be taken within one month of the start-date of the leave originally requested. Rescheduling the leave should be done in consultation with the employee so that the new dates are convenient for them.
Employees taking carer’s leave will be protected from suffering any detriment, for example they must not be dismissed due to taking this leave or should not be overlooked for promotion or training either.
Paternity Leave
Many employers and employees will be familiar with the existing regulations which govern paternity leave but April has brought about a number of changes to be aware of.
Paternity leave can now be taken in two separate one week blocks if the employee wishes, instead of the previous requirement to take one week or two consecutive weeks of paternity leave. It can also now be taken at any time in the 52 weeks following the birth of the child, previously paternity leave had to be taken in the 56 days after the birth.
The notice period that employees have to give of their intention to take paternity leave is another change. The new regulations mean that employees intending to take paternity leave only need to give 28 days’ notice. Under the previous regulations notice had to be given 15 weeks before the Expected Week of Childbirth.
Next Steps
Your staff handbook should already contain a paternity leave policy but it is important to review the policy and update it in line with the amended regulations. With carer’s leave being completely new it’s good practice to create a policy and add that to your handbook as well. Having clearly documented policies is all well and good but ideally they should also be communicated out to staff so that everyone knows what’s new and what their rights and responsibilities now are. If you don’t have these policies or need help to put them together then get in touch with us.
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Why not also check out our blog on a similar topic Flexible Working Requests – What Are The Key Changes?
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