All employees based in England, Wales and Scotland have a right to request flexible working arrangements from the first day of employment.  You can also make two requests over a 12-month period.  The new right became law from 6th April 2024. 

Flexible working requests should be made in writing, detailing the revised working pattern you are seeking.  Your request should include the date of the request, the proposed change to your working patterns, the time period over which you would like to see the change take effect and whether you have requested flexible working previously. 

Employers must agree to a flexible working request unless there are genuine business reasons to refuse, employees must be consulted before making that decision. 

Examples of flexible working requests, could include: 

• Home/remote working 
• Working staggered hours 
• Job sharing 
• Working compressed hours 
• Hybrid Working 
• Flexi-time 
• Part time working 
• Term time working 

If you are an employee based in England, Wales and Scotland, you now have the right to take a week’s unpaid carer’s leave per year, following the law that came into effect on 6th April 2024.  This is available to request from your first day of employment if you are providing care for a dependent.  This could include care for a relative, partner, friend or child who depends on you for their care needs.  Care needs could be physical or mental because of a disability, health condition, illness or old age and they will be expected to need care and support for more than three months. 

As an employee your employment rights (including holidays and returning to your job) won’t be affected by carer’s leave.   

Employees can take up to one week of leave every 12 months. A ‘week’ means the length of time you usually work over 7 days. For example, if you usually work 3 days a week, you can take 3 days of carer’s leave. 

The carer’s leave can either be taken as a whole week off or individual days or half days throughout the year, up to the whole week equivalent time over the year. 

Employees need to give their employer notice before they want their leave to start.  

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 2 days, the notice period must be at least 4 days. 

The notice period needs to be in full days, even if the request includes half day amounts. 

The request does not have to be in writing. 

Employees do not need to give evidence of their dependant’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. 

If they delay the request, the employer must: 

• agree another date within one month of the requested date for the leave 
• put the reason for the delay and new date in writing to the employee within 7 days of the original request, and before the requested start date of the leave 

For more information please see advice from the government website here (Unpaid carer’s leave – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)) 

If you are caring for someone who is elderly or disabled, the law, under the Equality Act 2010, will protect you from direct discrimination or harassment because of your caring responsibilities.  This is due to you being ‘associated’ with someone who is protected because of their age or disability. 

You have a right to parental leave if you have worked for the same employer for 12 months or longer and you are responsible for a child or children aged under 18 year’s old.  You are entitled to 18 weeks leave per child, this must be taken by the child’s 18th birthday. 

The time off is unpaid unless your employer is willing to give paid time off under your contractual rights. 

To qualify for this right, you would need to be legally classed as an employee and listed as a parent on the child’s birth certificate, have parental responsibility through adoption or have acquired legal responsibility for looking after the child. It is separate to maternity, paternity or adoption leave.  

There are some conditions that clarify how you can take this leave and the notice you need to give to your employer – For more information, please see advice from the Government website here 

All employees have the right to take a ‘reasonable’ amount of time off work to deal with emergency matters involving a dependent.  The time off is usually unpaid unless your employer is willing to give paid time off as a contractual right.   

Examples of emergency situations are: 

• A breakdown in usual care arrangements 
• If a dependent falls ill or has an accident 
• Time needed to make longer term plans for a dependent who is ill or injured 
• An incident involving a child during school hours 
• The death of a dependent