How much carer's leave can be taken

Total entitlement

Eligible employees can take up to 1 working week of carer's leave in any rolling 12-month period. This can be taken in one go, or in separate periods. It can be taken in half or full days.

The entitlement doesn't increase if an employee needs to care for more than one dependant – they can still only take 1 week in total.

1 working week

A working week is the period the employee is normally expected or required to work in a week at the time they make their request. This is usually determined by the days stated in their employment contract.

For example, an employee who normally works 5 days a week will be entitled to 5 days of carer's leave. One who works 3 half days a week will be entitled to 3 half days, and so on.

If an employee's working week varies (including situations where they're contractually required to work some weeks but not others), their entitlement is calculated by taking the average of their normal working periods over the previous 52 weeks.

If they've been employed for less than 52 weeks, the average is taken over the number of weeks they've been employed for. If they've been employed for less than a week, a week's leave is the period they're expected to work in that week.

Rolling 12-month period

Rolling means that when an employee requests a period of carer's leave, you count back 12 months from the last day of the period they're requesting and then count how much (if any) carer's leave they've taken during that time.

Example: an employee is entitled to 5 days of carer's leave. They request 3 days from 4-6 December 2025. They need to have taken no more than 2 other days of carer's leave since 7 December 2024.