The Carers Leave Act brings vitally needed support to around a quarter of a million carers in employment across Scotland, helping many who may currently be struggling to balance paid employment with caring responsibilities outside of work.
Around one in seven people in a workforce are caring for someone who may be older, disabled, or ill, and the pressures faced in managing work and caring is becoming more prevalent as our population ages and we work longer (the average person has a 50:50 chance of caring by the age of 50). This in turn creates real challenges for employers to recruit, support and retain key staff who might be at a stage in their careers when the impact of caring can bring additional challenges. Research undertaken in 2019 showed that 600 carers across the UK leave employment every day to care, with huge implications for staff retention and a loss of skills and experience across the labour market.
What are the key provisions of the Act?
- It provides a new flexible entitlement to one week’s (5 days pro-rata) unpaid leave per year for employees who are providing or arranging care for a relative or dependant
- This is a ‘day one’ right - available from the first day of employment
- The leave can be taken flexibly (in half days, full days or full week) for planned and foreseen caring commitments (it is in addition to the existing statutory Time off for Dependants which covers emergency and unforeseen events)
- It will offer the same employment protections to employees taking this leave that are associated with other forms of family-related leave, meaning they will be protected from dismissal or any detriment because of having taken time off.
The ability for carers to take some time off, and the flexibility to do this in days or half days means it is responsive to individual situations and periods of care – it might be to take someone to a clinical appointment, or be at home for some days following a hospital discharge. Being able to ask for this as a legal entitlement will remove some of the stress many carers feel under in taking time off work and importantly means that they won’t have to use annual leave to cover those critical caring points.
We know that many small employers already have very strong informal support for staff with caring responsibilities – small teams tend to know of, and support each other’s work-life challenges. However, a significant number of people simply don’t recognise themselves as ‘carers’, and that’s where this new legislation can really help enable these discussions.
Employers can encourage staff who might be ‘hidden’ carers recognise that they can access this new support – they can raise awareness of the right, and create a working environment where carers feel comfortable and supported, and more likely as a result to remain in employment.
How can Carer Positive help
- The Carer Positive scheme works with employers across Scotland to develop policies and workplace practice which help support the retention, health and wellbeing of carers, contributing also to organisational reputation as ‘employers of choice’
- The initiative is free to participate in, with advice, support and resources available to help organisations develop a supportive working environment for staff with caring responsibilities. Over 270 organisations in Scotland are currently recognised as Carer Positive Employers, benefiting from being part of a network of employers with access to shared knowledge, experience, and resources. You can visit the Carer Positive website for more information and to see the latest list of participating employers, from small private and community based employers to large institutions and public bodies.
Please contact Sue McLintock at [email protected] for further information about the Carers Leave Act or if you would like a chat through the Carer Positive process.