In 2023 the Carer’s Leave Act made provision for unpaid leave for employees with caring responsibilities, but this does not apply to service personnel.
Therefore, the MOD has now made provision within the policy JSP 760 for carer’s leave to be an entitlement under ‘compassionate leave’ which is recorded under ‘time off for dependents’ on Joint Personnel Administration (JPA).
Eligible service personnel (regular or reserve on full-time reserve service or ADC), regardless of length of service, are entitled to one week of fully paid carer’s leave in each leave year for situations where normal caring arrangements fail, or they are required to undertake caring duties that impact on their usual working hours.
Carer’s leave must be used within the leave year it is allocated, so any untaken carer’s leave cannot be carried forward to the following leave year.
Carer’s leave can be used by the service person to support anyone who depends on them for care. This could be a spouse, civil partner, registered longterm partner, child (including those with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND)), parent, someone who lives in the same household (excluding an employee, tenant, lodger or boarder) or someone who reasonably relies on the service person for care.
The service person should submit their request for each period of carer’s leave to their line manager, giving as much notice as possible. The service person’s line manager is responsible for confirming eligibility for carer’s leave and for approving each period of leave.