Carer’s Leave Act: How to calculate carer’s leave

Eden Scott is a team of recruitment professionals. While the information provided here is accurate to the best of our knowledge, it is intended for general guidance only. To ensure compliance with current and upcoming legislation, employers can consult with an HR or employment law specialist.

In the UK, it’s estimated that the number of unpaid carers could be as high as 10.6 million. A recent poll carried out by Carers Week found that 1 in 5 of us are currently providing some form of unpaid care. 
New legislation gives employees with caring duties the right to take up to one week of unpaid leave a year.

As an employer, here’s what you need to know. 

What is the Carer’s Leave Act?

The Carer’s Leave Act entitles employees in England, Wales and Scotland to up to one week of unpaid leave per year to care for someone with long-term care needs. This entitlement applies from an employee’s first day on the job. 

The employee can take the leave all in one go, or flexibly in half or full days. It applies to ‘planned and foreseen’ caring commitments. Employees already have the right to take unpaid time off work in an urgent situation.

Employers cannot dismiss or disadvantage an employee for taking carer’s leave (similar to family leave laws).
 

Which employees are entitled to take carer’s leave?

Any employee who cares for someone with a long-term care need is entitled to take carer’s leave. This includes employees that care for someone with:

• A mental illness
• A long-term physical illness
• A disability
• Care needs due to old age

Both full and part time employees with caring duties qualify, but the amount of leave they’re entitled to is slightly different.
 

When can employees take carer’s leave?

If an employee needs to provide or arrange care for someone with a long-term care need, they can take unpaid carer’s leave. 

The definition has been left intentionally broad, but could include things like:

• Taking someone to a doctor or hospital appointment
• Providing personal care
• Arranging a health visit 

This applies to ‘planned and foreseen’ circumstances. In unforeseen urgent circumstances, employees are already entitled to take unpaid leave.
 

How to calculate carers leave

Qualifying employees can take up to one week of unpaid carer’s leave, but ‘a week’ is defined differently depending on a worker’s employment contract.

Full-time employees
Full-time employees are entitled to five full days’ leave.

Part-time employees
Part time employees are entitled to take the equivalent of their contracted hours within a week period in leave, rounded up to the nearest half day.

To calculate this, you’ll need to:

• Define what constitutes a ‘full day’ for your employee (usually 8 hours - this should already be defined in their employment contract)
• Determine the employee’s leave allowance in hours (this is how many hours the employee works per week)
• Divide the leave allowance hours by the full day hours
• If the number isn’t a full number, or ends in anything other than .5, round up to the nearest half day. 
  
  For example:
  Full day = 8 hours
  Leave allowance = 20 hours 
  20 / 8 =  2.5 days
  Leave entitlement = 2.5 days 
  
  Full day = 8 hours 
  Leave allowance = 15 hours
  15 / 8 = 1.875 days 
  Round up to the nearest half day = 2 days 
  Leave entitlement = 2 days 
  
  Full day = 8 hours 
  Leave allowance = 10 hours 
  10 / 8 = 1.25 days
  Round up to the nearest half day = 1.5 days
  Leave entitlement = 1.5 days

Variable week-to-week workers 
To calculate how much leave employees with a contract that varies from week to week are entitled to, you will need to:

• Determine how many hours the employee has worked for you in the past year (or all hours they’ve worked for you if less than one year)
• Divide the number of hours by the number of weeks the employee has worked for you (up to 52 weeks)
• Divide this number by the number of hours in a typical work day 
• Round up to the nearest half day (to a maximum of five full days)
  
  For example:
  Amount of weeks employee has worked for you = Over one year (52 weeks)   
  Amount of hours employee has worked in the past year = 1040 hours
  1040 / 52 = 20 hours
  Work day = 8 hours  
  20 / 8 = 2.5 days 
  Leave entitlement = 2.5 days 
  
  Amount of weeks employee has worked for you = 41 weeks 
  Amount of hours employee has worked in the past year = 615 hours 
  615/ 41 = 15 hours
  Work day = 8 hours 
  15 / 8 = 1.875 days 
  Round up to the nearest half day = 2 days 
  Leave entitlement = 2 days    
  
  Amount of weeks employee has worked for you = 30 weeks 
  Amount of hours employee has worked in the past year = 903 hours 
  903 / 30 = 30.1 hours
  Work day = 8 hours
  30.1 / 8 = 3.762 days
  Round up to the nearest half day = 4 days
  Leave entitlement = 4 days

Employees taking carer’s leave during their first week

If an employee needs to take carer’s leave in the first week of their employment, take the estimated number of hours they will work in a week and round this up to the nearest half day, up to five full days. 

          Amount of hours employee is expected to work each = 15 
          Work day = 8 hours 
          15 / 8 = 1.875 days 
          Round up to the nearest half day = 2 days
          Leave entitlement = 2 days 
 

What evidence does an employee need to provide?

Employees do not need to supply any evidence of their caring duties (e.g. they don’t need to provide a doctor’s note or give proof of their unpaid carer status). Employees must let you know that they are taking unpaid carer’s leave. 
 

How much notice does an employee need to give?

Employees should give you at least three days’ notice if they are requesting one day or half a day’s leave.
They should give you at least double the amount of notice as their requested leave period if they’re requesting leave for two or more consecutive days. For example, if an employee plans to take three days in a row off work, they should give you at least six days’ notice.
 

How should an employee request carer’s leave?

Employees should inform you that they are requesting carer’s leave and let you know which days they plan to take. They don’t need to make the request in writing. 
 

Further reading

1 GUIDE: Unfair dismissal - How to protect your business
2 Unfair dismissal changes: How employers should prepare
3 Neonatal Care Act: How HR teams should prepare
4 Employment Rights Act 2024-25: Are you compliant?