Are you one of the millions of working parents who are currently juggling your work with home schooling? Many of us have started the new year hopeful that things might change but we’ve found ourselves experiencing groundhog day yet again as the country is put into another lockdown. This is already the third national lockdown in less than a year. If you need reminding of what you can and cannot do during this lockdown you can read the Government Guidance here.
Will it make things better, or make no difference at all? We hope that this restriction will not be in vain, and we want to encourage working parents to be patient, especially when we have to work from home and home school again. For many of us balancing between the two has been one of the biggest challenges during the lockdown, thankfully we are still making it through.
But as parents who are working from home, we are sure you may have a number of questions about what your rights are during lockdown?
Here we talk about all the legal aspects of working from home as a parent and more.
Working Parents And Their Rights
As a parent who has no choice but to work from home and care for your children you may be able to:
- seek guidance on how to access medical support
- receive help on how to cope with stress
- get paid in full or receive a partial salary
- have time off without having to use annual leave
Furlough Leave
You must have been living under a rock this past year if you haven’t come across the word “furlough”. The government introduced the mechanism to provide financial support to employers. This enables them to continue to part pay employees’ salaries to reduce the impact that redundancies would otherwise have on the economy. Otherwise known as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme or CJRS. The government will pay your monthly salary of 80% or up to £2,500 a month while on furlough leave. It is up to your employer if they wish to top up the difference to 100% of your salary.
If you haven’t been furloughed and if you are eligible, you may be put on temporary leave, since the furlough scheme has been extended until 30 April 2021. Again, this is a decision made by the employer with regards to their business. Some businesses may not be able to offer furlough leave for all parents working from home. You may not be entitled to furlough leave, but you can still discuss other options with your employer.
If you believe your employer is in breach of the CJRS conditions you can report them using HMRC’s website online form.
Flexible Furlough Leave
With the extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), there were some updates to the existing rules. These additional changes (‘’flexible furlough”) allow the working parent to go back to work if they have been previously furloughed. They will therefore receive another temporary leave after returning back to work under the new rules. Before the new changes were made on July 1, all employees had to be furloughed for a minimum of three consecutive weeks at a time. But the new changes allow employers to choose the time they give off to their working parents each week. In any case, whatever flexible arrangement you decide on with your employer, make sure you have everything in writing.
Flexible Working
Flexible working means working at hours that work best for you with some regards to the employer. This means working parents can choose to work when their children are asleep, working at night, working during weekends or even working fewer hours than normal.
As a working parent you are entitled to ask for flexible working. However, you must have worked with the same employer for 26 weeks. Before you ask your employer for flexible working, read your employment contract to find out what they offer. If you are unsure of what your employment contract entitles you to feel free to get in touch. This is one of the areas we can advise you on.
Applying for flexible working can be done by “making a statutory application”. Your employer can refuse the application if they have a good business reason to do so. You are only allowed to apply for flexible working once a year.
Parental Leave
If working from home and home schooling doesn’t work for you, your partner and your children, you can ask your employer for parental leave. Parental leave is available for working parents who have worked for the same employer for at least a year. On parental leave, you do not get paid and you are only allowed to take 4 weeks leave per child in a year. This can be taken in separate periods of say a week at a time up to the maximum 4 weeks. Check your employment contract and policies as your employer may give you more than the statutory 4 weeks. Whatever your employer decides, remember to ask them to reply in writing. If you are unsure how to ask your employer, check with us for legal assistance.
Time Off For a Dependent
If you are unable to have parental leave, you can ask for ‘’time off for a dependent’’. This leave is also unpaid and for a shorter period than parental leave. A dependant may be your:
- child
- parent
- partner
Or it can even be:
- someone residing in your house but not a tenant or employee
- someone who is disabled and relies on your full support
A lot of working parents don’t know their options and it is only during this crisis that most have started to explore what else is available to them. If you’re struggling and feeling overwhelmed by everything you are trying to juggle then please reach out to us we will be happy to guide you.
For more information on COVID 19 financial support to business owners and self-employed, you read our blog on the subject here.