Taking Time Off

Employees are entitled to take a reasonable amount of unpaid time off to take action in relation to unforeseen events involving a dependant, defined as follows:

  • spouse/civil partner
  • child
  • parent
  • person who lives in the same household but is not a tenant, lodger, boarder or employee
  • those who reasonably rely on you for the provision of care or for assistance if they fall ill. This could be, for example, an elderly neighbour.

It is not possible to define what a reasonable amount of time is because this will depend on the specific circumstances in question. The same event may require varying amounts of time off for different people, or even the same person if it happens more than once on different occasions.