Legal Neurodiversity Network’s Post

A Breakthrough for UK Carers: New Leave Entitlements in 2024! A new statutory carer's leave entitlement will come into effect in the UK on 6 April 2024, thanks to the recently passed Carer's Leave Act 2023. This legislation will grant employees in England, Wales, and Scotland up to one week of unpaid leave per year to care for a loved one who is ill, injured, disabled, or requires care due to their age. The right to carer's leave is a day-one entitlement, meaning that there is no minimum length of service requirement for employees to be eligible. This is great news for the estimated 9% of people in the UK who currently provide unpaid care to dependents. Carers UK Chief Executive Helen Walker said that this new right will help many more carers stay in work while supporting businesses to retain their staff too. Under the new law, employees will be allowed to take a week off every 12 months, calculated based on their normal working over seven days. This can be taken all at once or as half or full days, but cannot be used for general childcare. While carer's leave is unpaid, companies are free to offer enhanced policies as part of their family-friendly policies to support their employees' wellbeing and retention. As the law prepares to come into effect, employers are encouraged to review their policies and prepare to offer employees the support they need to juggle their caring responsibilities and work duties. #CarersLeaveUK #CarersLeaveAct #SupportingCarers #FlexibleWorking #InclusiveWorkplace #DiversityandInclusion #WorkplaceWellness #HumanResources

The family care revolution is here, and paid leave is just the beginning. But what about the root cause of caregiving burnout for aging family members? It's time to stop redeploying employed families to provide nursing care at home. Healthcare needs to do its institutional job, and workforce development is the responsibility of the healthCARE industry, not local care companies. Check out the link below to learn more about how 70 businesses nationwide have closed due to a lack of paid leave for caregivers. Let's continue to advocate for and support caregivers everywhere. #caregiving #caregiver #employeecare #workforcemanagement #workforcestrategy #employeebenefits

Important to get the facts right on effective child care and paid leave policy.

Valuable read for everyone, including those working with children and families, and in childcare. There is so much misinformation and misunderstanding, including the idea that paid family leave somehow infringes upon, or threatens, childcare services/businesses. These two infrastructures support one another and - in combination - can make children, families, and all business stronger. It’s not an either/or proposition - it’s a both/and set of solutions.

Carer’s Leave Changes Starting from 6 April 2024, employees will have the right to take unpaid leave to provide care for a 'dependant' from day 1 of employment. A dependant could be someone who is expected to need care for over 3 months due to physical or mental illness, injury, disability as outlined in the Equality Act 2010, or simply due to old age. Importantly, this care recipient doesn't have to be a family member, broadening the scope of individuals eligible for this type of support. This new provision emphasizes the importance of assisting those in need of care within our society. It recognizes that providing care for others, be it due to illness, disability, or old age, is a crucial aspect of building a compassionate community. This change seeks to support employees in balancing their work commitments with their responsibilities as caregivers, enabling them to care for dependants without financial strain. By offering unpaid leave for caregiving responsibilities, the government aims to promote a more inclusive and supportive work environment. This initiative acknowledges the diverse caregiving needs individuals may have beyond those typically associated with immediate family members. Allowing employees to attend to the needs of dependants in such circumstances reflects a commitment to fostering a workplace culture that values empathy and understanding. Employees have the option to take a week off for leave every year. A 'week' is the same amount of time they usually work in 7 days. For instance, if an employee works 3 days weekly, they can use 3 days of carer's leave. They can decide to take a whole week off or use individual days or half days as needed during the year. Acas #employmentlaw #Networking #JobSeekers #employeerights #humanresources #smallbusiness #workplace

🌟 Introducing the Carer’s Leave Act 2023 🌟   👉 This new legislation grants employees with caring responsibilities a statutory annual entitlement of one week’s unpaid leave. However, employers have the option to offer paid carer’s leave at their discretion.   It is important that you have a clear policy in place to set out notice requirements and how leave can be taken.   🔐 Key Points to Note:   ➡ Carer's leave is a day one right available to all employees who care for a dependent. ➡ Employees are protected from detriment and dismissal linked to taking or requesting carer’s leave. ➡ Dependent includes spouses, civil partners, children, parents, or other dependants needing care due to disability, old age, illness, or injury. ➡ Employers cannot deny an employee's request for carer’s leave but can postpone it if deemed necessary for business operations.   ⚠️ Emergency Leave Reminder:   Separate from carer's leave, employees have the right to take a "reasonable" amount of time off work for dependants in emergencies. Examples include illness, childbirth, injury, or unexpected changes to childcare arrangements.   If you have any questions or need assistance navigating these new rights, contact us [email protected] . We're here to support both employers and employees! 🤝💼   #CarersLeaveAct #EmployeeRights #EmploymentLaw #DownsSolicitorsEmployment #HRSupport #WorkLifeBalance Heather Love Elizabeth Barrett

More working U.S. parents than ever are celebrating their first Mother’s Day with hard-fought access to paid time off to care for newborns. But the majority still must forego pay to care for new babies or other loved ones, even as efforts to expand paid parental and family leave gain traction. Bipartisan groups in the U.S. Senate and House have revived efforts to expand paid family leave to more workers, with momentum building to introduce legislation this year. In the absence of a federal law, 13 states plus the District of Columbia have adopted paid family and medical leave laws, which entitle workers to paid time off to care for newborns or other loved ones who require care. Still, just 27% of civilian workers in the U.S. get paid family leave, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Workers who can least afford to take unpaid time off are also the least likely to have access to paid leave: According to the BLS, just 14% percent of workers in the lowest 25% wage category get that benefit, compared to 48% of those in the top 10%. For families without paid leave, babies “are going to day care when they are two weeks old. They do not even have immunizations. They’re not on regular feeding patterns.

Statutory Carer’s Leave: As of April 6, the Carers Leave Act 2023 came into force, granting all employees the right to take carer's leave from their first day on the job. This leave is applicable to those caring for dependents with long-term care needs, such as spouses, civil partners, parents, children, or other dependents requiring care due to disability, old age, or illness. Eligible employees can take up to one week of unpaid leave per year, with flexibility in scheduling and notice requirements. What does this mean for employers? The right to take carer's leave applies from the first day of work. An employee can take carer's leave to give or arrange care for a dependant who needs long-term care. Who counts as a dependant An employee's dependants can include: * their husband, wife, civil partner or partner * their child * their parent * a person who lives in their household (not tenants, lodgers or employees) * a person who relies on them for care, such as an elderly neighbour What counts as a long-term care need A dependant has a long-term care need if they have any of the following: * a disability as defined under the Equality Act 2010 * an illness or injury that is likely to need care for at least 3 months * a care need related to old age What carer's leave can be used for Examples of when an employee could use carer's leave include: * taking their disabled child to a hospital appointment * moving their parent who has dementia into a care home * accompanying a housebound dependant on a day trip * providing meals and company for an elderly neighbour while their main carer is away with work for the day How much time someone can take Employees can take up to 1 week of carer's leave every 12 months. They can choose to take leave as: * half days – this is the minimum they can take * full days * a whole week An employee is entitled to a period of leave that is equal to their usual working week. For example, if someone works 3 days a week, they can take 3 days of carer's leave. An employee might have been working for their employer for less than a week. If that's the case, a week is the number of days or hours they would normally work in that week. If you need professional support in order embrace these changes in your workplace, call Schofield & Associates. https://lnkd.in/gsBaBMH

Updates to California's paid family leave benefits to be aware of - keep an eye on this as there may be some questions if a leave starts in 2024 but extends through 2025. https://lnkd.in/etd3pjAq #PFL #CaliforniaPaidLeave #CFRA #PaidLeave #StatePaidLeave #FMLA #PaidLeaveNews #HRNews

For anyone I’m connected with who works in the health and social care sector, I’d be interested in your thoughts about the below. These views are solely my own, personal views and I would be interested to hear others’ takes on it. Some interesting conversations about the new ‘Care leave Act 2024’ on the radio today. Essentially, employees will be entitled to up to 5 days additional leave each year to give or arrange care for dependents with physical/mental illness, disabilities or care needs due to old age. This is being hailed by the government as huge steps forward for anyone with caring responsiblities. Working with familial and informal carers on a daily basis, I can’t help but feel that this isn’t the ‘huge’ step forward it’s being made out to be. Whilst it is good that it is being recognised that those with caring responsibilities would benefit from extra time to undertake these responsibilities, these 5 additional days are UNPAID. So, you can take the time you need away from your day job to undertake caring responsibilities (which contracted care companies are paid to do) but you’ll have to lose 5 days pay to do it. I may be being reductionist with this one, but I can’t help but feel that the fact these days are unpaid is giving with one hand and taking with the other. This is not 5 extra days of holiday where a carer could have much needed respite. These 5 days are to provide care for a loved one which is by no means a holiday and for some, is a 24/7 responsibility. Would we not be better off paying employees for this? Ultimately caring is a job, and if family members, friends, partners etc are undertaking these responsibilities they are doing so instead of any statutory funded or private carers. Better yet, could we not provide respite or additional days holiday for those with caring responsibilities in addition to their full or part time employment? Anyone with caring responsibilities will tell you that it is not a 9-5pm job and we see time and time again family members and carer burnout; of course detrimental to the individual but ultimately the person they are caring for, too. I can’t help but feel we could do better by recognising not only the extra time needed for caring, but the financial and emotional impact too. Offering 5 days of additional leave is a start, but I feel that being paid, or being afforded additional respite/holiday would be the big step forward that we could hope for.