Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential merits for (a) businesses and (b) workers of introducing paid carers leave.

A new entitlement of up to a week of unpaid carer’s leave was introduced for employees from 6 April 2024. The published Impact Assessment (IA) contains a cost benefit analysis and full evaluation of the policy. We estimate there are 2.5 million people balancing employment and unpaid care, who could benefit from this new entitlement.

The IA commits to reviewing the effectiveness and rationale for the policy by seeking evidence from businesses and employees in 5 years. The IA was published during the passage of the Bill on https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3199/publications under the Impact Assessment tab.