You have the right to request flexible working. To do this you need to be an employee with 26 weeks of continuous employment with your employer at the date you make the application, and be a parent with a child under six or a disabled child under 18, or a Carer. You qualify as a Carer if you are, or expect to be, caring for a spouse, partner (who you live with), civil partner or relative, or live at the same address as the adult in need of care.

How to request flexible working

You have the right to make one application per year. You are not required to prove the caring relationship, but it may help your application to provide as much information as possible. Caring in this context can include help with personal care, emotional support, helping with financial matters or paperwork and support to attend medical appointments. The request for flexible working should be made in writing (your employer may have a standard form) and include the date of application, confirmation that you are eligible and an outline of the working pattern you would like. Examples of flexible working patterns include:

• flexible starting and finishing hours
• compressed working hours
• annualised working hours (e.g. hours are calculated over a year and you work some fixed shifts but have flexibility over some of your hours)
• term-time only working
• job sharing or part-time working
• homeworking and teleworking

The right to time off in emergencies

Also known as time off for dependants, this gives all employees the right to take a ‘reasonable’ amount of time off work to deal with an emergency involving a dependant. Whether the time off is paid or not is at the discretion of the employer. A dependant could be mother, father, son, daughter, parent or anyone who lives with you who is solely dependent on you. An emergency could be:

• a disruption or breakdown in care arrangements
• the death of a dependant
• if a dependant falls ill or has been assaulted
• to make longer-term arrangements for a dependant who is ill or injured (but not to provide long-term care yourself).

To use this right to time off, employees must inform their employer as soon as possible after the emergency has happened.

Parental leave

If you have one year of service you are entitled to 13 weeks of parental leave to care for a child and 18 weeks to care for a disabled child who receives Disability Living Allowance and is under 18. Leave can be taken in blocks of one week, up to a maximum of four weeks leave in a year (for each child). It can be taken in single or multiple days if the leave is to care for a disabled child.

Equalities Act

This legislation protects Carers from direct discrimination or harassment because of their caring responsibilities. See our ‘Your rights as a Carer’ factsheet in Resources for more details.