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A review will look at the current approach to employment rights for unpaid carers, particularly leave entitlements, as well as examine the potential benefits of introducing paid carer’s leave.

The right to unpaid carer’s leave for employees, as well as limited employment protections, was introduced in April 2024. In November 2024, in Next Steps to Make Work Pay, the government committed to reviewing ‘the implementation of carer’s leave and consider whether there is a need to change the current approach to ensure that we are making the necessary difference to carers and their dependents’.

The aims of the current review are to:

• understand how the existing unpaid carer’s leave entitlement is working
• examine the adequacy of current legal protections and workplace practices for individuals providing unpaid care and options for different models of paid carer’s leave
• consider the merits of further policy development, e.g. the introduction of a paid leave entitlement, a one-off, extended unpaid leave entitlement, a paid leave entitlement for the parents of seriously ill children, and other situational paid leave entitlements to support carers in specific circumstances, e.g. individuals providing end of life care

It’s expected that the review will conclude by the end of 2026.