Carer's leave, dependants' leave and bereavement: the time off small employers get wrong

When something happens in an employee's family, small employers are usually generous and almost always improvising. Someone's mother has a fall, or a partner gets a diagnosis, or a child dies, and the conversation happens in a corridor. Whatever gets agreed is well meant and, quite often, legally wrong — sometimes less than the employee is entitled to, sometimes more than the business can sustain once it becomes precedent.

There are three distinct statutory rights in this area, plus one on the way. They cover different situations, carry different notice rules, and only one of them is paid. Knowing which is which takes ten minutes and removes the improvisation entirely.

Time off for dependants: the emergency one

This is the day-one right every employee has to take a reasonable amount of unpaid time off to deal with an unexpected problem involving a dependant — a partner, child, parent, or someone who relies on them for care.

It covers emergencies and the arrangements that follow: a dependant falling ill or being injured, a care arrangement collapsing at short notice, an incident at a child's school, or a death and the practicalities immediately around it. It does not cover the ongoing situation. It is there to let someone handle the crisis and put a longer-term arrangement in place.

There is no statutory number of days, which is where disputes start. The law says "reasonable", and in practice that is usually one or two days for most situations. An employee who needs three weeks to nurse a relative is outside this right and into annual leave, unpaid leave by agreement, or carer's leave.

There is no notice requirement, because it is an emergency right. The employee must tell you as soon as reasonably practicable why they are away and how long they expect to be.

Carer's leave: a week a year, planned, from day one

Since 6 April 2024, employees have had a day-one right to one week of unpaid carer's leave in any 12-month period, to care for a dependant with a long-term care need — a long-term illness or injury, a disability, or issues related to old age.

A "week" means the employee's own working week. Someone contracted three days a week gets three days. It can be taken as individual days or half-days, or as a continuous block.

The notice rules are specific and worth writing down. For half a day or a single day, the employee must give at least three days' notice. For more than a day, notice must be at least twice as long as the leave requested — four days' notice for two days off. The notice does not have to be in writing, and you cannot ask for evidence of the care need.

The part small employers most often get wrong: you cannot refuse carer's leave. You can postpone it if the business would be unduly disrupted, but you have to agree an alternative date within a month of the original request, and explain the postponement in writing within seven days.

The right you can refuse is annual leave. Carer's leave you can only move, and dependants' leave you cannot do either.

Parental bereavement: two weeks, and it is paid

This is the exception to the unpaid rule. An employee whose child dies under the age of 18, or who suffers a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy, has a day-one right to two weeks' leave. It can be taken as one block or two separate weeks, and it must be used within 56 weeks of the death.

Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay is £194.32 a week for the 2026 to 2027 tax year, or 90% of average weekly earnings if that is lower. Unlike the leave, the pay is not a day-one right: the employee needs 26 weeks' continuous service by the end of the week before the death, and average weekly earnings of at least £129. As with other statutory payments, it is recoverable from HMRC through your payroll, and employers who qualify for Small Employers' Relief — Class 1 National Insurance of £45,000 or less in the qualifying year — reclaim all of it plus a compensation uplift. For most small firms this is a cash flow item rather than a cost.

Separately, from 6 April 2026, a bereaved father or partner can take up to 52 weeks of paternity leave where the mother or primary adopter dies within the child's first year.

What is coming in 2027

The Employment Rights Act 2025 creates a wider right to at least one week of unpaid bereavement leave for the loss of a close relative, extending beyond the current parental-only entitlement, and covering pregnancy loss before 24 weeks. The detail sits in regulations expected to take effect in 2027. Nothing changes in your handbook today, but if you are rewriting a policy this year, write it so that adding a week of unpaid bereavement leave is a one-line amendment rather than a rebuild.

A worked example

Take an illustrative case: a six-person business, and an employee whose mother has a stroke on a Tuesday morning.

Tuesday and Wednesday are time off for dependants — unpaid, no notice needed, dealing with the hospital and arranging cover. Thursday and Friday the employee wants to be at the hospital while decisions are made. That is not an emergency any more, so it is annual leave, or unpaid leave by agreement, or the start of carer's leave if the mother's condition is a long-term care need. Three weeks later, when the mother is discharged and care visits need setting up, that is squarely carer's leave — and if the employee wants two days, they owe you four days' notice.

On a £28,000 salary, two days of unpaid dependants' leave costs the employee roughly £215 gross and costs the business nothing in wages. That is the honest arithmetic, and it is also why a lot of employers quietly pay the first day or two anyway. That is a decision to take deliberately and apply consistently, not one to make differently for each person who asks.

Write the policy before you need it

One page covering the four situations, what each is called, whether it is paid, and who to tell. Put the notice rules for carer's leave in it, because that is the one nobody remembers. Then apply it the same way every time.

The consistency matters more than the generosity. An employer who pays for one person's compassionate leave and not another's, with no rule behind the difference, is building a discrimination claim slowly and in writing. If you want to be more generous than the statutory minimum — and plenty of good small employers are — be more generous in the policy, where everyone can see it. The same discipline applies to managing sickness absence and to flexible working requests, where the process is the protection.

Common questions

Can I refuse a carer's leave request?

No. You can postpone it, which is a meaningfully different thing. If granting the leave on the requested dates would unduly disrupt the business, you may ask the employee to take it at another time, but you must agree an alternative date falling within one month of the original request and give the reason in writing within seven days of the request being made. You cannot require evidence of the care need, and you cannot treat the employee detrimentally for taking the leave. Refusing outright, or making the employee use annual leave instead, is a breach of the entitlement and can be taken to an employment tribunal.

Is time off for dependants paid?

Not by law. Time off for dependants and carer's leave are both unpaid statutory rights, and the only bereavement-related statutory payment is Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay at £194.32 a week for 2026 to 2027 or 90% of average weekly earnings if lower. Many small employers choose to pay the first day or two of an emergency anyway, and that is a perfectly reasonable thing to do — but write it into your policy and apply it to everyone identically. Discretionary generosity handed out inconsistently is how employers end up defending a discrimination claim about something they thought was a kindness.

How much notice does an employee have to give for carer's leave?

For half a day or a full day, at least three days' notice. For anything longer, the notice must be at least twice the length of the leave requested — so three days of carer's leave requires six days' notice. Notice does not have to be in writing, though it is sensible to record it, and the employee does not have to provide evidence of the dependant's condition. Time off for dependants works differently because it exists for emergencies: there is no notice period at all, and the employee simply has to tell you as soon as reasonably practicable what has happened and roughly how long they expect to be away.

Do employees have a right to paid bereavement leave when a parent dies?

Not at present. The only statutory bereavement entitlement is parental bereavement leave, which covers the death of a child under 18 or a stillbirth after 24 weeks, and gives two weeks' leave as a day-one right with pay for those with 26 weeks' service. For the death of a parent, partner or sibling, an employee's legal right is limited to reasonable unpaid time off for dependants to handle the immediate practicalities. The Employment Rights Act 2025 will add at least one week of unpaid bereavement leave for close relatives through regulations expected in 2027. Most employers offer more than the minimum, through a written compassionate leave policy.