Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department offers (a) paid time off work and (b) other support to employees who become kinship carers.

We do not have a policy which explicitly covers paid time off work and other support to employees who become kinship carers. Employees can take time off work to deal with an emergency involving a dependant or are able to request other special leave, paid and unpaid, as well as annual and flexi leave as required to support them when they become a kinship carer. Employees are also able to request flexible working to support both short term and longer-term arrangements.

As with all requests for time off under our policies, each case is taken on a case-by-case basis, and consideration to grant requests, either paid or unpaid, taken in line with our provisions.