Job rights: changes to carer’s leave and pregnancy rules
Posted 12 April 2024 - 17:00
Time off for nurses helping dependants now a legal right, redundancy protection extended in pregnancy, and flexibility seen in NHS now applies in all sectors
Nurses can benefit from new laws that expand worker rights including increased flexible working and carer’s leave.
The laws offer employees more protections from redundancy while on maternity leave and changes to holiday pay for workers with irregular hours.
Here’s what the changes could mean for you:
Carer’s leave
The Carer’s Leave Act 2023 came into force on 6 April and applies UK-wide.
It means nurses who have a dependant with a long-term care need are entitled to one week’s unpaid leave per year. The dependant does not have to be a relative, they can be anyone who relies on them for care, who has a disability, mental ill health or care needs because of their age.
The legal right applies from day one of employment.
Flexible working
The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 also came into force on 6 April, and applies in England, Wales and Scotland.
It gives all employees the right to apply to work flexibly from day one of their job, an employment condition NHS staff have had since 2021. People will be able to make two flexible working requests per year and will no longer have to explain the effect of their requested change.
Employers must respond to requests within two months, reduced from three months, and should consult employees before refusing flexible working requests.
While the new legislation does not extend to Northern Ireland, NHS staff in Northern Ireland will benefit from changes to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook, an updated version of which will be published later this month.
Holiday pay
The government introduced changes to holiday pay from 1 April that allow employers to pass holiday pay to staff who work irregular hours in the ‘rolled-up method’. This means if you are a nurse who works irregular hours – most likely as bank and agency nurse – your employer may change the way they pay you holiday pay.
The rolled-up method is where your employer pays your holiday pay, calculated by the hours you have worked each month, rather than when you take annual leave. If your employer notifies you to tell you they intend to do this then your contract may need to be checked and updated.
The new regulations have introduced a statuary holiday calculation of 12.07% holiday accrual of hours worked in the pay period, which reflects the 5.6 weeks statutory holiday entitlement for UK workers.
An irregular hours worker is defined by someone whose number of hours worked varies from payday to payday. This does not include those working varied shift patterns on fixed hours.
NHS Employers has directed organisations to review any separate contracts for staff who have irregular hours, or bank contracts to ensure compliance with the new law.
The government has created a pay calculator to help anyone working irregular hours check how much holiday they have accrued.
Redundancy protection while you are pregnant
In a redundancy situation, employees on maternity, adoption or parental leave must be offered any suitable alternative role, if there is one.
But this redundancy protection has been extended to women who are pregnant but have not yet begun maternity leave. It starts at the moment they tell the employer they are pregnant and continues for 18 months after they give birth. It does not apply to women who returned from maternity before 6 April .
The updated Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023 is law in England, Scotland and Wales.
Any nurse who is currently pregnant, but informed their employer before 6 April should reiterate their notification, a Department of Business and Trade spokesperson said.
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