2026 Government Review of Carer’s Rights

The government has commenced its joint review and consultation into the Carer’s Leave Act 2023 and the employment rights available to parents with a seriously ill child.

Carer’s leave

The Carers Leave Act 2023 was implemented to protect unpaid carer’s rights in circumstances where they were forced to take time off to manage their caring responsibilities.

The current rights available to carers include the statutory entitlement to Unpaid Carer’s Leave and Time Off for Family and Dependants. Employees who are carers for dependents with long-term care needs have a statutory right to take up to five days (pro-rata) of Carer’s Leave in a rolling 12-month period. This leave can be taken in a block week, or over individual whole or half days.

The Equality Act 2010 also offers carers some protection from discrimination by association where their caring responsibilities overlap with the circumstances of disability, age or sex.

Unpaid Carer’s Leave is different to emergency leave, which is available to all employees. This provides a right to take a reasonable amount of unpaid time off to deal with a dependant’s illness, injury or an unexpected breakdown in care arrangements.

The consultation, which opened on 9 June 2026, aims to review the current unpaid carer’s leave entitlements that are available, how effective they are for both carers and employers, and further support might be offered by the government to ensure that carers remain and progress in the workplace. Keeping carers in work contributes to employer’s businesses being productive, resilient and able to retain skilled staff members.

Three potential options are being tabled for carer’s reforms:

 Leave for parents of seriously ill children (Hugh’s Law)

The consultation is simultaneously looking at the entitlements for the parents of children who require intensive, inpatient treatment during the immediate aftermath of a serious diagnosis. Parents already have access to workplace entitlements such as Unpaid Parental Leave, and if eligible, Neonatal Care Leave, but the consultation will review whether these measures go far enough to support parents during the crisis of a seriously ill child.

Hugh’s Law has been campaigned for by the parents of Hugh Menai-Davis, who died in 2021 from a rare form of cancer. Frances and Ceri Menai-Davis are in favour of extended leave options and long-term financial support for parents who have children requiring sustain in-patient hospital treatment. As part of their research, they discovered that around 4,000 children per year spend more than two months being treated continuously in hospital; their son, Hugh, had spent 10 months receiving treatment. Concerns have been raised that these parents are faced with choosing whether to be with their child during intensive medical interventions or at work to retain their job roles and maintain an income.

In the consultation of Hugh’s Law, the government intends to look at potential paid leave entitlements and what the implications of those could be for employers, employees and the labour market. It also needs to gather evidence on the contexts surrounding any entitlements, such as who should be eligible, what level of leave or pay is appropriate and how an entitlement could remain workable and proportionate for employers, including small and micro-businesses.

The implications for employers may include integrating a new category of leaver into systems and payroll, updating policies, preparing for resourcing pressures and an increased obligation to maintain employee’s roles, budgeting for increased salary costs and providing training to line managers and HR departments so that they are equipped to handle the sensitive circumstances and conversations surrounding the leave.

The consultation period for both Carer’s Leave and Hugh’s Law will close on 1 September 2026.