An employee calls shortly before their shift: the nursery has closed, their parent has fallen or their partner has been taken ill. The immediate question is not whether they have holiday left. It is whether the statutory right to time off for dependants applies. Employers need a quick, consistent way to identify the emergency, allow reasonable time, protect the employee from detriment and decide which form of leave fits any longer absence.
Start with the statutory test
Under section 57A of the Employment Rights Act 1996, an employee is entitled to a reasonable amount of time off during working hours to take necessary action in specified situations involving a dependant. This is an employee right: do not assume every contractor or worker has the same statutory entitlement, although the contract or policy may provide something better.
The right applies from the start of employment. There is no minimum service requirement, annual allowance or fixed number of permitted occasions. A manager should therefore identify the event and the action needed rather than applying an invented rule such as ‘one day only’ or ‘three emergencies a year’.
The leave is usually unpaid unless the employment contract, policy or established practice provides pay. Confirm the pay position clearly, but do not make payment the test for whether the employee can take the statutory time off.
Employment Rights Act 1996, section 57A ↗ · ACAS: time off for dependants ↗
Check who counts as a dependant
A dependant can be the employee’s spouse, civil partner, child or parent. It can also be someone living in the employee’s household as part of the family, but not a tenant, lodger, boarder or employee simply because they live there.
The definition can extend beyond close family. A person who reasonably relies on the employee for help when they fall ill, are injured or assaulted, or to arrange care, can qualify. An elderly neighbour or friend may therefore be a dependant on the facts. Ask what support the person normally or reasonably relies on the employee to provide; do not decide solely from the family label.
Managers need enough information to identify the statutory category, not an intrusive medical history. Record the relationship and the nature of the emergency in proportionate terms, and keep sensitive information confidential.
Decide whether the event is unexpected
The right covers necessary action when a dependant is ill, injured, assaulted or unexpectedly gives birth; making arrangements after a dependant dies; an unexpected disruption or termination of care; and an unexpected incident involving the employee’s child during school or another educational establishment’s hours.
Typical examples include a childminder not arriving, a care home closing without warning, a child being injured on a school trip or a dependant’s existing condition suddenly worsening. The illness does not have to be life-threatening. What matters is the unexpected problem and the employee’s need to act.
A planned hospital appointment, known school closure or pre-arranged care commitment will not normally qualify as an emergency under this right. Another option may fit, such as carer’s leave, ordinary parental leave, annual leave, flexible working or a contractual special-leave scheme.
GOV.UK: what counts as an emergency ↗ · Related guide: carer’s leave →
Assess what is reasonable for this emergency
There is no statutory number of hours or days. Reasonable time depends on what happened, the action needed and the employee’s circumstances. It may cover collecting a child, taking a dependant to hospital, arranging replacement care or dealing with immediate arrangements after a death.
The right is intended to address the immediate problem and, where necessary, put longer-term arrangements in place. It does not automatically cover the whole period for which the dependant needs care. A child becoming ill may justify the parent leaving work and arranging care; several further days at home may need to be covered by another form of leave.
Do not treat ‘usually one or two days’ as a legal cap. Equally, the employee should explain how long they expect to be absent and update the employer if the position changes. A calm conversation about the action taken, likely duration and next contact point is more useful than demanding a final return date during the first emergency call.
Give managers a clear route from first contact to longer-term leave.
HR + SAFETY can review your family-leave and absence process, clarify the decision points and help managers record dependant emergencies consistently.
Discuss your emergency-leave processHandle notice and evidence correctly
The employee must tell the employer the reason for the absence and how long they expect it to last as soon as reasonably practicable. In a real emergency, that may be after they have left work or missed the start of a shift. Managers should use the normal call-in route where possible while allowing for situations in which the employee cannot make immediate contact.
GOV.UK states that the notification does not have to be in writing and the employee does not have to provide written proof. An employer can ask proportionate questions to understand whether the right applies, but should not make a hospital letter, nursery email or other document an automatic condition of granting leave.
Keep a simple record: when the employee notified the business, the statutory reason, expected duration, whether the time is paid under policy and the agreed update. Code the absence accurately rather than labelling it sickness, holiday or unauthorised absence by default.
GOV.UK: telling the employer ↗ · Related guide: unauthorised absence →
Move to the right leave when the emergency becomes ongoing
Separate the immediate statutory absence from the longer plan. Carer’s leave provides up to one working week of unpaid leave in a 12-month period to give or arrange care for a dependant with a long-term care need, but it has advance-notice rules. Ordinary parental leave may apply to planned time caring for a child. The employee can request annual leave, but it should not be imposed retrospectively simply to avoid recording dependants leave.
Sick leave is appropriate only where the employee is not well enough to work. Compassionate or special leave depends on the organisation’s terms. Where repeated emergencies reveal a continuing problem, discuss whether a flexible-working request, temporary adjustment or another sustainable arrangement could help without pressuring the employee to surrender a statutory right.
Use the same decision framework across sites and shifts. A Gateshead warehouse employee and a Newcastle office employee should not receive different legal treatment merely because one manager is more sympathetic or has easier cover.
ACAS: carer’s leave ↗ · Related guide: flexible working requests →
Employer checklist for a dependant emergency
Employees must not be subjected to detriment, refused reasonable time off, dismissed or selected for redundancy because they asked for or took qualifying dependants leave. ACAS says a dismissal for this reason is automatically unfair and no minimum service is needed to bring that claim.
Legal requirements and official guidance were checked on 27 September 2026. Individual cases can also involve contractual rights, discrimination, bereavement, parental leave or collective arrangements, so obtain advice where the facts or proposed response are disputed.
- Confirm that the person is legally classed as an employee.
- Identify the dependant and why they reasonably rely on the employee.
- Establish the unexpected event without demanding unnecessary personal detail.
- Ask what immediate action the employee needs to take.
- Agree the expected duration and a sensible update point.
- Check the contract or policy and explain whether the time is paid.
- Record the absence as time off for dependants where the statutory test is met.
- Do not demand written proof or force the employee to use annual leave.
- Discuss the appropriate leave or working arrangement if the care becomes ongoing.
- Exclude protected dependants leave from punitive treatment, redundancy reasoning and automatic assumptions of misconduct.
- Review patterns factually and consistently rather than imposing an invented annual cap.
Treat the first absence as a statutory test, not a favour. Identify the dependant and emergency, allow the reasonable time needed for immediate action, record the decision accurately and agree a lawful option for any longer absence.
This guide provides general information for UK employers. It is not legal advice and should not replace advice based on the facts of a specific matter.