Carers Leave Bill receives Royal Assent.
- Thread starter SAP
- Start date
I am sure that the 5 whole days of unpaid leave from work will receive almost devotional thanks from unpaid carers. ( feeling slightly sarcastic tonight)
I was lucky that my employer ( a carers centre !) had good paid carers leave and load of flexiability. This bill just scratches the surface but for many it is a welcome start, sadly there are plenty of employers out there who do not have the first clue what caring entails.
This kind of token gesture doesn’t help anyone. My husband and I don’t have well paid jobs so taking unpaid time off would significantly impact our finances. As it is we both work overtime so we can take time of in lieu when we visit my parents. The only other alternative would be to use annual leave which we don’t want to do. I also do freelance work outside of my regular job so lose income when I’m not able to do this. Don’t even get me started on the additional fuel costs. I think the financial implications of doing any kind of caring are not talked about enough.
This is at least a step in the right direction to recognise caregiving duties.
I learned first hand how unequal treatment can be when my brother became seriously and terminally ill. I found I had no rights within my company (one who had received multiple invest in people awards) and no rights from the government to take any leave. So parents have the right to 6 months unpaid leave, but a childless person has no right to any leave, even when a relative has dementia or is terminally ill if the relative hasn‘t lived with them for a period of time.
You can never count on a company to “do the right thing”, the government often has to set the groundwork to get the ball rolling. One little step at a time.
I learned first hand how unequal treatment can be when my brother became seriously and terminally ill. I found I had no rights within my company (one who had received multiple invest in people awards) and no rights from the government to take any leave. So parents have the right to 6 months unpaid leave, but a childless person has no right to any leave, even when a relative has dementia or is terminally ill if the relative hasn‘t lived with them for a period of time.
You can never count on a company to “do the right thing”, the government often has to set the groundwork to get the ball rolling. One little step at a time.
