Time Off for Dependants: UK Employer Guide

This guide covers England, Scotland and Wales. Part VI of the Employment Rights Act 1996, which includes section 57A, extends to those three nations (legislation.gov.uk). Northern Ireland has its own law, the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996.

Time off for dependants is separate from the employee's own sickness, which is covered by Statutory Sick Pay and your sick pay scheme, and from holiday. For how it fits with the rest of UK absence law, see our employment law guide.

What time off for dependants covers

An employee is entitled to a reasonable amount of time off during working hours to take action that is necessary (ERA 1996 s57A(1)):

1. to help when a dependant falls ill, gives birth, or is injured or assaulted;
2. to make arrangements for the care of a dependant who is ill or injured;
3. because a dependant has died;
4. because care arrangements for a dependant are unexpectedly disrupted or end; or
5. to deal with an unexpected incident involving the employee's child during the time a school or other educational establishment is responsible for them.

Illness and injury include mental illness or injury (s57A(6)). GOV.UK gives examples: a childminder or carer who does not turn up, a nursery or care home that closes unexpectedly, a dependant who goes into labour unexpectedly and relies on the employee to get to hospital, and a child who is in a fight, hurt on a school trip or suspended (GOV.UK, what's an emergency).

What it does not cover

The right is for the unexpected. An employee cannot use it for something they knew about beforehand, such as a hospital appointment for their child; parental leave may apply instead (GOV.UK). It does not cover caring for a newborn after the birth unless there is an emergency (GOV.UK).

Who is a dependant?

A dependant is the employee's (s57A(3)):

• spouse or civil partner;
• child;
• parent; or
• someone who lives in the same household, other than as the employee's employee, tenant, lodger or boarder.

For illness, injury, assault and arranging care (paragraphs 1 and 2 above), it also includes anyone who reasonably relies on the employee for help or to arrange care (s57A(4)). For disrupted care arrangements (paragraph 4), it includes anyone who reasonably relies on the employee to arrange care (s57A(5)). Acas gives an elderly neighbour as an example (Acas).

How much time is reasonable?

The law does not say how much time an employee can take, or on how many occasions. It says the amount should be reasonable, and Acas advises employers to be as flexible as they can (Acas). GOV.UK says there is no set amount because it depends on the situation, and no limit on how many times it can be taken. An employer may want to talk to the employee if they think the time off is affecting their work (GOV.UK).

The time is to deal with the emergency. GOV.UK's example: if a child falls ill, the employee could take time off to go to the doctor and arrange care. If they want to look after the child for longer, the employer may ask them to take annual leave or parental leave (GOV.UK).

Pay

There is no legal right to pay. An employer may pay for time off for dependants but does not have to; the employment contract or your policy decides (GOV.UK; Acas). Some employers also offer compassionate leave or unpaid special leave, which can be used when the right does not apply, for example when the person who needs help is not a dependant (Acas).

Telling the employer

The right applies only if the employee tells the employer the reason for the absence as soon as reasonably practicable and, unless they can only do so once back at work, how long they expect to be away (s57A(2)). In an emergency they may not be able to tell you before they leave work. They do not have to tell you in writing or give written proof (GOV.UK, taking time off).

Protection from detriment and dismissal

• Refusal. An employee can complain to an employment tribunal that the employer unreasonably refused time off. Since 1 October 2026 the time limit is six months from the refusal, and the tribunal can award compensation (ERA 1996 s57B).
• Detriment. Employees are protected from detriment for reasons relating to time off under s57A that are set out in regulations (s47C(2)(d)). GOV.UK gives refusing training or promotion as examples of unfair treatment (GOV.UK).
• Dismissal. Dismissal for a reason relating to time off under s57A that is set out in regulations is treated as unfair (s99(3)(d)). Acas says dismissal or selection for redundancy for taking or asking for this time off is automatically unfair, with no minimum length of service (Acas).

Carer's leave compared

Carer's leave is a separate right, set out in the Carer's Leave Regulations 2024. It is unpaid leave to give or arrange care for a dependant who has an illness or injury expected to need care for more than 3 months, a disability under the Equality Act 2010, or care needs because of old age (GOV.UK, carer's leave).

Carer's leave applies from an employee's first day, and section 57A sets no minimum length of service. If carer's leave is postponed, the employer must agree another date within one month of the requested date, and put the reason and new date in writing within 7 days of the request and before the leave was due to start (GOV.UK). In an emergency, an employee who cares for someone can take time off for dependants without giving notice.

Recording it outside sickness scores

Time off for dependants is not the employee's own sickness. Record it under its own leave type, not a sick leave type such as "sick child", so it stays out of your sickness absence rate and any score built on it, such as the Bradford Factor. Counting it can push an employee towards an absence trigger point for a reason the law protects. Your absence policy should say which leave types count.

In Appsentia, absence scores are worked out from the sick leave types in your data. If time off for dependants has been recorded under a sick leave type, you can exclude that leave type, or a single absence from the employee's page, and it is left out of scoring in past and future data.

Sources

1. Employment Rights Act 1996, section 57A, section 57B, section 47C and section 99, legislation.gov.uk.
2. GOV.UK, Time off for family and dependants.
3. Acas, Time off for dependants, last updated 13 March 2025.
4. GOV.UK, Unpaid carer's leave; The Carer's Leave Regulations 2024, legislation.gov.uk.

Sources checked on 11 November 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice.