Go beyond the statutory floor — the day-one right to one week's unpaid carer's leave (in force since April 2024) — by adding flexible working, paid carer's leave and a carer register so managers can support staff. The unpaid week is the legal minimum every employer must give; it is not, on its own, a way to keep a valued person who is starting to buckle under their caring role.
Start with the floor, then build on it
Since 6 April 2024, any employee has a day-one right to up to one week of unpaid carer's leave every 12 months to look after a dependant with a long-term care need. The dependant need not be a family member, and you cannot ask for proof. You also cannot refuse a request outright, though you can postpone it (in writing, with a new date within a month) where it would seriously disrupt the business, and you must not penalise anyone for taking it. So the floor is set by law. Retention comes from what you add on top.
The retention stack you control
Four discretionary moves do the actual work of keeping working carers. Treat them as a package, not a menu:
- Make some carer's leave paid. A week of unpaid leave is little help to someone already stretched. Offering a few paid days a year removes the choice between caring and pay, which is where many carers reach for the exit.
- Treat flexible working as the default. The right to request flexible working has itself been a day-one right since April 2024, and the Employment Rights Bill before Parliament would let employers refuse only where it is reasonable to do so. Get ahead of that by saying yes by default — staggered hours, compressed weeks and home days are what let a carer hold a job and a caring role at once.
- Run a carer register or network. You cannot support carers you cannot see. A confidential register, and a peer network, make carers identifiable so managers can offer the right flexibility — and reduce the isolation that pushes people out.
- Train line managers. The line manager is the actual point of attrition. A manager who knows the leave rules, asks what would help and signposts support keeps people; one who treats caring as a reliability problem loses them.
The business case for acting
Around 600 people a day leave work to provide unpaid care, according to Carers UK. Each one you lose takes their experience, their relationships and the cost of hiring and training a replacement with them. The retention stack above is far cheaper than that churn, and it signals to every other carer on your payroll — a large and often hidden group — that staying is the better option. A carer-friendly workplace is a retention strategy, not a compliance exercise. The carer's leave right and the flexible-working right apply in England, Scotland and Wales; Northern Ireland has its own arrangements.
Where the law comes from
Related
This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.