The Government has launched a consultation on employment rights for unpaid carers and parents of seriously ill children, exploring whether additional employment protections are needed for those with caring responsibilities.

The consultation outlines existing measures that are currently available to unpaid carers, including a statutory right to five days of unpaid carer’s leave and the right to take a reasonable time off to deal with emergencies involving family members and dependents. While it goes on to consider the adequacy of such measures, the consultation acknowledges that more could be done to help both employers and employees understand how they operate in practice, and invites views on whether further guidance would be helpful.

Beyond the existing framework, the Government is also exploring whether to introduce further measures for unpaid carers. These include:

• Extending the range of people who can take carer’s leave and the circumstances for which it can be taken;
• Extending the number of days of unpaid carer’s leave that can be taken from five days to up to 10 days;
• Introducing a ‘right to return’ after a longer period of unpaid leave which would operate in a similar way to maternity leave;
• Introducing a short period of statutory paid carer’s leave.

Alongside unpaid carers’ leave, the consultation also considers whether to introduce an entirely new statutory entitlement to leave and pay for parents of seriously ill children. This proposal – often referred to as ‘Hugh’s Law’ after a campaign by the parents whose six year old son died of cancer – is explored in detail, asking for views on, for example, what would constitute ‘serious illness’, how much paid leave would be reasonable, and what the baseline level of remuneration would be.

The consultation closes on 1 September 2026, and can be read in full here.