7/17/2025 12:53:20 PM | less than a minute read

What counts as reasonable time off for dependent's leave?

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Rachel Walker

HR Consultant

Get in touch

Rachel Walker

HR Consultant

A father holds his toddler while another child plays on the floor, showcasing the balance between work and parenting. A laptop and coffee cup sit on the table, illustrating remote working life.

One question that I have often been asked by managers or when setting up policies for clients is about what counts as reasonable time off to allow their employees for dependent's leave.

Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, employees have the right to take reasonable time off for dependants and this is something that managers understand and want to provide support for their employees by granting when emergency situations arise. However, there can also be occasions where its difficult for employers to balance expectations of what they can support against what some employees may feel they need as time off.

I found the recent People Management article on the Ghebrehiwt V Wilson Hames EAT decision a useful summary of how there are limits to this right to time off.

Do contact me if you'd like to discuss further:

https://narrowquayhr.co.uk/about-us/meet-our-team/rachel-walker/

An employee may be entitled to time off to provide assistance where a dependant falls ill, but the EAT found in a 2003 case that the right to time off to ‘provide assistance’ does not give employees the right to take time off to provide personal care for a sick dependant “beyond the reasonable amount necessary to enable them to deal with the immediate crisis”. The legislation “contemplates a reasonable period of time off” for dealing with something unforeseen. Once it is known that a dependant is suffering from an underlying medical condition, the employee is entitled to take reasonable time off work to make longer-term arrangements for care, not to take leave to provide the care themselves.

www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/...