Right to time off for those with dependants

All employees, both male and female, have the right to reasonable time off for dependants in the event of any of the following circumstances:

• where a dependant falls ill, is injured or is assaulted
• to making arrangements for the provision of care
• where the employee has to make arrangements for the provision of care for a dependant
• in the case of the death of a dependant
• where the arrangements for the care of a dependant have been unexpectedly disrupted or terminated (eg a child-minder fails to turn up)
• where there has been an unexpected incident involving the employee’s child at school.

There is no qualifying service period required to entitle an employee to take time off work to care for a dependant, but the time off is unpaid.

For the employee to be entitled to time off work, the circumstances must be unforeseen. The intention behind the legislation is to allow employees to take time off work in the event of an emergency situation involving a dependant, and to be protected against any detriment for doing so. Therefore, emergencies relating to other domestic circumstances e.g. a flood at home is not covered.

Definition of a dependant

A dependant of an employee is defined in the legislation as one of the following:

• husband or wife or partner
• child
• parent
• someone else who is regarded as part of the family and lives with an employee (but not tenants, boarders, lodgers or employees)
• anyone else who is reliant on an employee in emergency situations

In determining whether the leave is ‘necessary’ the following factors should be considered:

• the availability of someone else who can help in the circumstances
• the nature of the incident
• the relationship of the employee with the dependant.

The entitlement is to a ‘reasonable amount of time off’. In assessing this, you cannot take into account the needs of the business and any disruption that the employee’s time off might cause. However, if the employee has taken time off to care for dependants on previous occasions, you can take into consideration the following:

• the number of times the employee has taken time off
• the length of time off that the employee has taken
• when the time off was taken
• whether on each occasion the employer was informed of the absences

In many situations, you will not have the opportunity to refuse the leave, because the employee will be informing you after the event of the emergency. However, the Regulations do specify two main grounds on which time off can be refused:

• where it is not necessary to take the time off (for example, if a child has had a serious accident it would be reasonable for both parents to go to the hospital, but if a childminder was ill it would not be reasonable for both parents to leave their work to care for the child)
• or where the amount of time off requested by the employee is unreasonable.

Under normal circumstances, a manager is likely to only deal with a relatively small number of instances of time off for dependants throughout the year. However, on rare occasions, the number of instances may well increase due to unprecedented situations. Even when this happens, it is not within the discretion of you to deny the right to time off for dependants. Manager are encouraged to open up communication with employees about how an extended period of time off will be dealt with. Homeworking, annual leave or a temporary period of flexible working may help.

If you have any concerns about the number of days an employee is taking due to time off for dependants, please liaise with the HR Team.

Please note – the right to take time off to care for dependants is in an emergency only. The very nature of the entitlement to time off for dependants means that you cannot plan for the time off. Therefore, the employee is required to inform you as soon as reasonably practicable about the absence, the reason for it and the anticipated length. Any extension to the originally anticipated length must be notified to you as soon as is reasonably practicable.