School’s out – but what about the parents?

As the school summer holidays begin, parents are gearing up for a season of juggling childcare and work. For many parents, this is the time of year for which they bank most of their annual leave – but what other alternatives are available to help with childcare during the school holidays?

Flexible working

Since the pandemic, the flexibility for employees to work from home has been hugely beneficial to parents, never more so than during the summer holidays. For some, a hybrid working pattern between the office and home is already part of employment contracts, so utilising this flexibility during the summer months will be relatively straight forward. However, for those employees who do not benefit from flexible working, the law does now ensure that they are able to request flexible working twice in a 12-month period, and school holidays may be a time employees look to action a request. Failure to consider, or in some cases accept, an employee’s flexible working request may lead to employers being at risk of a claim of indirect discrimination by female parents on the basis of sex discrimination (case law has shown that it’s still the case childcare is predominantly a female’s responsibility). As such, if parents are unable to find alternative care, then allowing some flexibility over the summer holidays may be a sensible route for employers to take, in order to help employees out, so long as having children at home doesn’t impact on their productivity.

Parental leave

Employees are entitled to request up to four weeks’ unpaid parental leave per year, up until their child turns 18 (up to a maximum of 18 weeks per child). This could be a good option for employees who are looking to take a substantial period of time off with their child/ children over the summer holidays, but they do need to be mindful that they will not be paid for this time off. Should employers receive an influx of unpaid parental leave requests over the summer holidays which would leave them too light on the ground in terms of resource, then they are able to reject requests. In the same way as traditional holiday requests, if there are too many employees requesting parental leave at one time (and/ or other employees have pre-existing holiday booked), employers may wish to allocate parental leave requests on a first come, first served basis – or speak to all those employees who have put in requests in order to see if they can be flexible so to ensure everyone can take some degree of time off.

Dependant leave

Dependant leave is really what it says on the tin, it’s the right to take time off work to deal with an emergency involving someone who depends on you. Therefore, if childcare which has been organised for an employee’s child/ children falls through at the last minute and is no longer possible, then employees have the right to take unpaid dependant leave in order to look after the child.

Employees do not have to make up the time they take off and the right is to take a ‘reasonable’ amount of time off to deal with the immediate or unexpected crisis – not for planned time off or to provide longer-term care for a dependant. Reasonable time off depends on the situation, but it will usually not exceed one or two days. Employers can request evidence of an employee’s reasons for taking time off (either at the time of the request or on an employee’s return to work). It is at the employer’s discretion if they choose to pay for any dependant leave.

Bringing children into the workplace

Keeping work life and family life separate is preferable for most employees – but for some bringing their children into the workplace during school holidays may be their only option. This is often a worst-case scenario where all other avenues of childcare have been explored, but it is not uncommon for employees to occasionally request for their children to be allowed to come into the office with them where no other alternatives are available (i.e. if the employee has critical work meetings which mean that taking holiday, or parental or dependant leave is not feasible). Compared to the other options outlined above, bringing children into the workplace does require more consideration, such as:

• the potential disruption having a child/ children in the workplace may cause to other employees;
• the health and safety considerations of ensuring that young children are safe in the working environment (certain workplaces will not be suitable for children, and bringing children to work should not be considered in these instances);
• supervision will be required at all times – if the parent of the child/ children goes into a meeting, who is responsible for keeping an eye on them?
• if one employee is allowed to bring their child/ children into the workplace, then others will expect the same opportunity to do so – employers need to be fair;
• the age of the child/ children will be relevant too – a five-year old versus a ten-year old have very different needs.

In some rare instances, employees may benefit from their employer having childcare facilities onsite in the workplace (for example, some employers offer a creche for staff to leave their children during the working day) which would mitigate the above issues arising. If not, employers may have, or consider, access (temporary or permanent) to other local employers’ or private creches or nurseries.

Third-party childcare

The ever-increasing cost of childcare means that many employees will opt for the above options as the most cost effective over the summer holidays. However, Government help is at hand for those parents who need it when it comes to childcare. Eligible parents can claim up to £2,000 PA per child, up until the child turns 11, or up to £4,000 PA per child, up until the child turns 17 if the child is disabled. This money could be used for clubs, childminders, nurseries, etc.

Additionally, the Government will pay 20% of childcare costs if you meet the relevant criteria. Parents will need to set up a Tax-Free Childcare account which is used to pay for the childcare, the Government will then deposit the additional 20% directly into the account.

The Government also provides a certain amount of free childcare depending on a child’s age – 9 months to 2 years (15 hours per week) and 3 to 4 years (30 hours per week).

Conclusion

A parent in the workplace will always be a parent first, and employee second. The more flexible employers can be with employees to allow them to balance their work and parental responsibilities over the summer (as well as generally) the more likely they will see a more motivated, loyal workforce which will only benefit the organisation.

This article was co-authored by Harry Rowe, trainee solicitor at Gateley Legal.