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Employment protections extended for parents and carers

As part of the Government’s drive to boost employment and workforce participation, three new laws were passed on 24 May which strengthen employment rights for:

  • Parents with a baby requiring neonatal care
  • Pregnant and new parents
  • Unpaid carers

None of these new rights have yet come into effect, with the Government saying they will lay down the required secondary legislation ‘in due course’. However, they are likely to have an impact for both employers and employees when they finally do. 

Neonatal Care

Having a baby that is ill or needs extra care is a stressful time for parents, even without having to worry about their employment.  Due to limitations on existing maternity and paternity leave, some parents in this situation also find themselves having to return to work before they are ready, or taking unpaid leave.

The new Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act seeks to address these concerns by giving new, specific rights to employed parents whose babies need neonatal care.

All eligible employees will be entitled to between one and 12 weeks of Neonatal Care Leave, which must be taken within 68 weeks of the date of the child’s birth. If employees have at least 26 weeks’ service, they may also be entitled to Neonatal Care Pay for their leave period.

These rights apply in addition to existing maternity and paternity provisions, and in line with other statutory payments, provision will be made for employers to reclaim amounts paid to employees from the Government.

The Act also extends the existing employment protections from dismissal or detriment which apply for other family related leave to those taking Neonatal Care Leave.

Pregnant and new parents

Back in 2019, the Government consulted on extending redundancy protections for pregnant women and new parents, amidst concerns that some were being unfairly dismissed or treated so poorly they had no choice but to leave their job.

Following that consultation, the new Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act allows the Government to extend existing redundancy protections to cover:

  • periods of pregnancy; and
  • a period of time (the duration of which is yet to be confirmed) after an employee has returned from maternity, adoption or shared parental leave.

Unpaid carers

Recent research shows that approximately 4.2 million people in the UK provide unpaid care to elderly or disabled family members or dependents.  Over half of these individuals also have to balance work alongside caring.

To help unpaid carers, the Carer’s Leave Act introduces a new right to ‘Carer’s Leave’. The idea is to enable carers to better balance their work and caring, and help them remain in employment.

Carer’s Leave will be a new, flexible, unpaid leave which:

  • can be used to provide or arrange care for a dependent with a long-term care need;
  • is available to all eligible employees, regardless of how long they have worked for their employer;
  • can be taken as half-days or individual days, up to a total of one week over a 12-month period; and
  • will not require any evidence to be provided by employees.

Employees taking Carer’s Leave will also benefit from the same employment protections as those on other forms of family related leave.

 

This article reflects the position at the date of publication (19 June 2023). If you are reading this at a later date you are advised to check that that position has not changed in the time since.

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