Unpaid leave: when can you take it?
Some unpaid time off is your legal right. Extra holiday usually needs agreement. Check which rules cover you, how much leave you can take and what to put in your request.
Unpaid leave is time off, and off the wage. You can take it when the law covers your reason, when the contract already allows it, or when your employer agrees. Offering to lose a day’s pay does not, by itself, give you the right to miss a shift.
- 18 wks
- Unpaid parental leave per child
- 1 week
- Carer’s leave each rolling year
- Day one
- Parental and carer’s leave in Great Britain
- 21 days
- Normal notice for parental leave
What is unpaid leave, and when can you take it?
Unpaid leave, unpaid time off and leave without pay all mean the same thing on the payslip: you were not there, and the money for that time is not there either. What matters is why you need the time off. A statutory right comes from the law, so you follow its notice rules. A contractual right comes from your terms, so you use it. If neither covers you, ask your employer to agree the absence before you take it.
Statutory leave
- The law sets who qualifies, how much notice you give and how long you can take.
- Some of that leave can still be postponed. Public duties are reasonable time, not an open-ended right.
- If they refuse a right you have, or punish you for using it, that can be a tribunal claim. Keep the reply.
- Statutory family leave protects your continuous service and your holiday accrual. Pay depends on the leave and your contract: statutory parental leave and carer’s leave are unpaid unless your contract says otherwise.
Leave by agreement
- Check the contract and the leave policy first. An entitlement there is yours to use.
- Without one, your employer can usually refuse, or agree and set the terms.
- A refusal must still comply with discrimination law. If the no is tied to pregnancy, disability, race or religion, write down what was said and get advice.
- Before you agree a longer break, ask for the pay deduction, what happens to benefits, and the date and job you return to, in writing.
How much unpaid leave can you take in the UK?
There is no single annual allowance for unpaid leave. In Great Britain, parental leave gives eligible parents 18 weeks per child, normally limited to four weeks per child each year. Carer’s leave gives one working week per rolling year. Emergency time off for dependants has no fixed number of days: it must be reasonable for the situation. Extra unpaid holiday or a career break is whatever your contract, or your employer, will allow. Where the law falls short: those statutory weeks are a real gain, and in Great Britain parental and carer’s leave are day-one rights, but they are unpaid, so the employer keeps the wage for time you are entitled to take, and requiring that time to be paid would fix it.
Unpaid leave rights in England, Scotland and Wales
Most rights below require employee status. A casual, zero-hours or agency label does not settle your status. If you are a worker but not an employee, do not assume you qualify for statutory family leave; agency workers can have separate appointment rights. Apprentices employed under an employment contract have employee rights. The self-employed do not have employment leave rights, although a jury summons still requires attendance unless the court excuses or defers it.
| Right | How much | Key condition | What they can say |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time off for dependants | Reasonable time; no fixed annual allowance | Necessary action involving a dependant, such as an emergency or unexpected care breakdown | Cannot refuse qualifying time off |
| Unpaid parental leave | 18 weeks per child; normally up to 4 weeks per child each year | Parental responsibility for a child under 18; day-one right since 6 April 2026 | May postpone for up to 6 months under the statutory rules |
| Carer’s leave | 1 working week per rolling 12 months | Dependant with a long-term care need; day-one right | May postpone for serious disruption, with replacement dates within a month |
| Neonatal care leave | 1 week per 7 full, continuous days of care; up to 12 weeks | Care starts within 28 days of birth; employee with qualifying caring responsibility | Cannot refuse qualifying leave; statutory pay has separate conditions |
| Jury service | Usually 10 working days, but trials can last longer | Jury summons | Must release you; can ask you to seek deferral from the court |
| Public duties | Reasonable time | A qualifying role, such as magistrate, councillor or school governor | Can refuse an unreasonable request, taking business needs into account |
| Accompanying antenatal appointments | Up to 2 appointments, up to 6.5 hours each | Qualifying relationship to the pregnant person or expected baby | Cannot unreasonably refuse qualifying time off |
| Adoption appointments | Secondary adopter: up to 2 appointments, up to 6.5 hours each | Qualifying adoption appointments; main adopter’s first 5 are paid | Cannot unreasonably refuse qualifying time off |
Your contract may pay you for leave the law leaves unpaid. Check the other way round too. A pregnant employee’s own antenatal care is paid at the normal rate. Qualifying union officials get paid time for duties and training, and so do health-and-safety representatives for their duties. Eligible employees under notice of redundancy can get paid time to look for work, subject to a statutory pay cap. If payroll marks any of that as unpaid leave, ask them to correct the payslip before you accept the deduction.
Can you take unpaid leave for a holiday?
Usually only if your employer agrees, unless your contract or leave policy gives you an entitlement. Using up your paid holiday does not create a right to extra unpaid days. Ask for the dates before booking anything you cannot cancel, and get approval in writing. Taking discretionary leave without agreement can lead to disciplinary action.
A family holiday can qualify for unpaid parental leave if it is to spend time with your child and you meet the parental-responsibility, notice and allowance rules. That is different from asking for ordinary extra holiday. Your employer must follow the parental-leave rules, including the limits on postponement explained below.
Unpaid parental leave: who qualifies and how much can you take?
Unpaid parental leave is separate from maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave. Each eligible parent gets 18 weeks per child before the child’s 18th birthday. You must be named on the birth or adoption certificate, or have or expect to have parental responsibility. Changing employer does not reset the allowance: leave already used for that child counts towards your total.
Under the standard rules, you can take up to four weeks per child each year, in whole weeks. Your employer can agree more flexible arrangements. If your child is disabled, you can take shorter periods. A week means your normal working week, so three days if you work three days a week.
Since 6 April 2026, parental leave is a day-one right in Great Britain. Normally, give 21 days’ notice. Your employer can postpone it for up to six months if the absence would unduly disrupt the business, but not where you are the child’s father and the leave starts on the day the child is born, or where it starts on the day of an adoption placement. They must explain the postponement in writing within seven days of your request and offer new dates without reducing the leave. They cannot postpone it so that your child becomes too old to qualify.
Example: four weeks’ parental leave on £30,000
Amara joined in September 2026 and wants four weeks’ parental leave in November for her two-year-old. She does not need a year’s service. Using weekly pay, the gross pay forgone is £30,000 ÷ 52 × 4 = £2,307.69. Payroll’s deduction method may differ, so she checks it before booking. She gives 21 days’ notice. Holiday continues to accrue during the leave, although her annual entitlement is proportionate to the part of the holiday year she is employed.
In Northern Ireland, unpaid parental leave still requires one year’s continuous service. Do not rely on Great Britain’s day-one change if you work there. Check nidirect’s leave guidance.
Can you take unpaid time off for childcare or caring?
Under section 57A of the Employment Rights Act 1996, employees can take reasonable unpaid time to deal with specified situations involving a dependant. That can mean collecting a child sent home ill, helping an injured partner or arranging care when usual arrangements unexpectedly fail. A dependant includes a spouse, partner, child or parent, and can include someone who relies on you for care.
There is no fixed number of days or annual cap on occasions. The right covers the necessary immediate response and arrangements, not an open-ended absence to provide care. Tell your employer the reason and expected duration as soon as reasonably practicable. A pre-booked hospital appointment is not normally covered; carer’s leave or parental leave may fit instead.
Carer’s leave has been a day-one employee right in Great Britain since 6 April 2024. You get one normal working week’s unpaid leave in each rolling 12-month period, taken in whole weeks, days or half-days. The allowance is per employee, not per dependant.
The person you care for must be a dependant with a long-term care need: an illness or injury expected to need care for more than three months, a disability under the Equality Act 2010, or care needs because of old age. They do not have to be a relative. Unlike emergency dependants’ leave, carer’s leave can cover planned care.
Notice for carer’s leave
Count each full day and each part day of leave as one day, then give at least twice that many days’ notice, and never less than three days. Three full days’ leave therefore needs six days’ notice; one and a half days counts as two, so it needs four. Your employer cannot refuse qualifying leave. If it would seriously disrupt the business, they can postpone it, after consulting you, to dates within one month of the original start date. They must give written reasons and replacement dates within seven days of your request, or before the leave starts if that is sooner.
Example: carer’s leave, three days a week
Theo works three days a week at £120 a day. His “week” of carer’s leave is three days. He takes two days in June to move his father onto a new care package: 2 × £120 = £240 unpaid. One day remains for the rolling 12 months. If he uses it, the year’s total is £360 unpaid.
Other unpaid leave rights: family leave, jury service and appointments
Neonatal care and other family leave
Neonatal care leave is a day-one employee right in Great Britain for qualifying parents whose baby was born on or after 6 April 2025. Care must begin within 28 days of birth and last at least seven continuous days. You get one week’s leave per seven full, continuous days of care, up to 12 weeks, taken within 68 weeks of birth. This is additional to other family leave. Statutory neonatal care pay normally requires at least 26 weeks’ continuous employment by the relevant qualifying week and an earnings test, so the leave can be unpaid.
Notice depends on when you take it. While the baby is in care, or in the first week afterwards, tell your employer before your usual start time on the first day of leave, or as soon as you can. Later leave requires written notice: 15 days for one week, 28 days for two or more weeks. See the official notice rules, including the separate requirements for pay.
Parental bereavement leave is also a statutory right, with two weeks available to eligible employees from day one. Bereavement pay has separate qualifying conditions. Time off for dependants can cover necessary action following a dependant’s death, such as funeral arrangements. Other compassionate leave depends on your contract or your employer’s agreement.
Maternity, adoption, paternity and shared parental leave are separate schemes. Entitlement to leave does not always mean entitlement to statutory pay, and some leave extends beyond the paid period. Check the relevant scheme before agreeing to ordinary discretionary unpaid leave.
Jury service
Your employer must release you for jury service, but does not have to pay you unless your contract or policy says otherwise. Dismissal because of jury service can lead to an unfair-dismissal claim. If your absence would seriously affect the business, your employer can ask you to seek deferral. The court decides.
In England and Wales, the daily allowance for lost earnings and care costs is capped at £64.95 for more than four hours at court during the first ten working days, or £32.47 for four hours or less. After ten working days, the caps rise to £129.91 and £64.95 respectively. These are maximum reimbursements, not automatic daily pay. Food and drink allowances are up to £5.71 for ten hours or less, or £12.17 for longer days, with travel claimed separately.
Example: ten days on a jury in England or Wales
Jess loses £110 a day for ten days, each involving more than four hours at court. She has no additional care costs. Her lost earnings total £1,100. A successful claim at the £64.95 daily cap reimburses £649.50, leaving £450.50 of lost earnings unrecovered. Food and travel allowances cover separate expenses; they do not replace the missing wages. Her employer can choose to top up her pay.
Scotland has different jury expense rates. For full days, the loss-of-earnings caps are £64.95 for days one to five, £129.91 for days six to 100 and £230 from day 101. Check the court’s claim guidance for shorter days and other expenses.
Public duties, appointments and union activities
Employees in specified roles, including magistrates, local councillors, school governors and tribunal members, can take reasonable time off for public duties. Your employer does not have to pay. They can refuse a request they consider unreasonable, taking account of the time needed, time already taken and the effect on the business.
Qualifying fathers, partners and intended parents can take unpaid time for up to two antenatal appointments, capped at 6.5 hours each including travel. That is up to 13 hours in total. For adoption appointments, the secondary adopter gets up to two unpaid appointments; the main adopter’s first five are paid. Check the relationship and appointment conditions. Agency workers also have appointment rights after the 12-week qualifying period.
Employees who belong to a recognised union have rights to reasonable unpaid time for qualifying union activities. This differs from the paid time available to qualifying union officials for duties and training.
Time off for study or training
Employees in Great Britain with at least 26 weeks’ service have a statutory right to request time off for study or training that helps them do their job better, where the organisation employs at least 250 people. It is a right to ask, not to take: your employer must consider the request but can refuse it for business reasons. Any time off is usually unpaid unless your employer agrees to pay. Agency workers are excluded. Some young employees have a separate right to paid time off for study, with its own conditions.
How to request unpaid leave from work
For statutory leave, name the right and follow its notice rules. You are notifying your employer of an entitlement, not asking for a favour, though some leave can lawfully be postponed. For discretionary unpaid leave, ask for agreement and wait for approval before missing work.
- Name the right, if you have one. Match your reason to the table, then check eligibility and your contract. A policy can offer more than the statutory minimum. It cannot take that minimum away.
- Write the dates down. Use the notice period for your leave. Normally 21 days for parental leave. For carer’s leave in Great Britain, count each full or part day you want as one, then give at least twice that many days’ notice, and never less than three days (Acas explains how half days count). Neonatal leave has different rules above. For dependants’ time off, explain the reason and expected duration as soon as reasonably practicable. Give your employer your jury summons promptly.
- Keep what you sent. Keep your request, the reply, rota, payslips and any change to your shifts. For parental leave, keep the child’s birth certificate or placement papers to hand: your employer can ask for reasonable proof. In Great Britain, you do not need a written request or evidence for carer’s leave, but retaining an email can help if they later say you never asked.
- Ask what the week will cost you. Ask payroll how it will calculate lost pay and pension contributions. For a career break, get in writing whether the employment contract continues, what happens to benefits, and your return date and role. Do not agree to waive statutory rights.
Unpaid leave request: wording you can adapt
For extra unpaid holiday: “I’d like to request unpaid leave from [start date] to [end date], returning on [date]. Please confirm whether you agree to these dates and how the deduction from my pay will be calculated.”
For parental leave: “I’m giving notice that I intend to take unpaid parental leave for my child from [start date] to [end date]. My child’s birth or placement date is [date]. Please confirm receipt.” Normally give 21 days’ notice and check your remaining allowance first.
What to check in an unpaid leave policy
Read the contract and the policy together, and separate the absences you can take as a right from the ones that still need a yes. Note who you tell, and how much notice they ask for. Before you agree a longer break, get the pay deduction, holiday treatment, pension and benefits, return date and role in writing. A policy can improve on statutory rights. It cannot remove them.
For NHS staff, check your trust’s special-leave or career-break policy alongside the statutory rights. An employer-specific policy is not a substitute for checking whether you already have a legal right to the absence.
Can your employer force you onto unpaid leave?
You should receive full pay unless your contract permits unpaid lay-offs or reduced pay for short-time working, or you agree to a change. A lay-off clause can allow unpaid days when there is no work. Without a lawful basis, withholding pay can be a breach of contract and an unlawful deduction from wages. When that happens, it is wage theft. Do not confuse agreeing to a short unpaid absence with accepting a permanent change to your contract.
In Great Britain, statutory guarantee pay is capped at £41 a day from 6 April 2026, for up to five days in any three-month period: £205 at most. If your normal daily pay is lower, you get that lower amount; part-time entitlement is proportionate. You need at least one month’s continuous employment, must be available for work and must not unreasonably refuse suitable alternative work. No guarantee pay is due for a day when you do some work or for a lay-off caused by industrial action.
Example: five days laid off
A full-time warehouse employee normally earns £100 a day and has six months’ service. Their contract allows unpaid lay-offs. They meet the eligibility conditions and are laid off for five complete working days in October. Statutory guarantee pay is 5 × £41 = £205, rather than their usual £500. Once the five-day allowance is used, further days within the relevant three-month period carry no additional statutory guarantee pay. A contractual scheme may pay more.
After four consecutive weeks of unpaid lay-off, or six weeks in a 13-week period, you may be able to claim statutory redundancy pay if you have at least two years’ continuous service. Short-time working can qualify where weekly pay falls below half your normal week’s pay. There is a strict written-notice and resignation procedure, and your employer can serve a counter-notice if work is expected to resume. Get advice before resigning; the trigger does not automatically end your employment. See the official claim procedure.
Does unpaid leave count towards continuous service?
Statutory unpaid family leave does not break your continuous employment. That includes qualifying parental leave, carer’s leave, time off for dependants and neonatal care leave. For a discretionary career break, check whether your employment contract continues or ends with arrangements for a later return. Do not assume the break counts, or that every unpaid day resets your service: get the terms in writing.
Does unpaid leave affect holiday entitlement?
Statutory holiday continues to accrue during statutory family leave. A five-day-a-week employee employed throughout the holiday year normally gets 5.6 weeks, or 28 days, of statutory holiday, even if they take unpaid parental leave. Bank holidays can count towards those 28 days. The four-week annual parental-leave limit still applies unless the employer agrees otherwise.
Do not assume that taking discretionary unpaid days automatically breaks your employment or removes holiday rights. A career-break scheme may continue the employment contract, or end it with arrangements for a later return. Those are different situations. Statutory holiday rules cannot simply be signed away, and irregular-hours and part-year workers have specific accrual rules. Get advice on a long break before accepting a blanket “no holiday accrual” term.
What happens to pension contributions and benefits?
When the wage stops, pension contributions and extras such as private medical cover do not all behave the same way. It depends on the type of leave, any statutory protection, your contract and the scheme rules. Ask payroll, and the pension administrator, what they will keep paying and what they will stop. Get the answer before the leave starts, not on the payslip afterwards.
Unpaid leave in Scotland and Northern Ireland
The main leave rights described here apply across Great Britain, including Scotland. Jury expenses differ, as explained above. Scotland also has a separate commencement date for the extension of tribunal breach-of-contract claim deadlines, noted below.
Northern Ireland has separate employment legislation. Unpaid parental leave still requires a year’s service, and there is no statutory carer’s leave under the Great Britain scheme. Dependants’ leave, jury service, public duties and lay-off protections have Northern Ireland equivalents, but do not assume that Great Britain’s rates or recent reforms apply. The neonatal-care scheme described above requires employment in England, Scotland or Wales. Use our Northern Ireland guide and nidirect to check local entitlements.
Northern Ireland already has parental bereavement leave and statutory pay for qualifying miscarriages experienced or detected on or after 6 April 2026, under the Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay (Miscarriage) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026. The rules cover spontaneous pregnancy loss before 24 weeks and specified medically necessary interventions for the mother’s health or fatal or severe fetal impairment. Qualifying biological or intended parents and current partners are covered. Statutory pay remains subject to the existing pay eligibility conditions, so leave may be unpaid if you do not qualify for pay. This is already in force, unlike Great Britain’s wider unpaid bereavement right scheduled for 2027.
What if your employer refuses unpaid leave or cuts your shifts?
Your employer can usually refuse extra unpaid holiday or a career break unless your contract gives you an entitlement. They cannot simply treat qualifying statutory leave as optional. Parental leave, and carer’s leave in Great Britain, have limited postponement rules; unreasonable public-duty requests can be refused. A refusal must also comply with discrimination law, so if you suspect the no is about who you are rather than the rota, write it down the same day.
If your employer refuses a right, cuts your shifts or withholds pay, keep your request, the reply, rotas and payslips. Ask your union for help: UNISON in care and health, Unite in hospitality, USDAW in retail or GMB in logistics. Acas, Citizens Advice and law centres are free advice routes. In Northern Ireland, contact the Labour Relations Agency.
Check which unpaid leave right applies
Unpaid leave: common questions
Can you take unpaid leave from work if you have just started?
In Great Britain, unpaid parental leave and carer’s leave are day-one employee rights if you meet their other conditions. You do not need a year’s service for parental leave, but normally must give 21 days’ notice. Northern Ireland still requires one year’s service for unpaid parental leave. Extra unpaid holiday depends on your contract or your employer’s agreement.
Is unpaid absence the same as approved unpaid leave?
Not necessarily. Calling an absence “unpaid” does not show whether you had a right to take it or your employer agreed. Check the reason and the notice given. For discretionary leave, get approval before missing work. For qualifying emergency time off for dependants, notify your employer as soon as reasonably practicable; advance permission is not required.
Can you take unpaid leave after using all your paid holiday?
You can ask, but using up paid holiday does not create a right to extra unpaid days. Your contract may give you an entitlement; otherwise your employer can usually refuse. Unpaid parental leave is separate and can cover time with your child, including a family holiday, if you meet its conditions.
Does unpaid leave count towards continuous service?
Statutory unpaid family leave preserves continuous employment. A discretionary career break needs a closer look: check whether your employment contract continues or ends with an arrangement to return. Get written confirmation of the terms before agreeing the break.
Does unpaid leave stop holiday accruing?
Statutory family leave does not stop statutory holiday accrual. For a discretionary career break, check whether your employment continues and which statutory accrual rules apply. Your contract can set rules for extra contractual holiday, but cannot simply remove your statutory entitlement.
Do FMLA or Fair Work unpaid leave rules apply in the UK?
No. FMLA refers to US law; Fair Work refers to Australia’s system. This guide explains unpaid leave in Great Britain and flags Northern Ireland’s separate rules. Do not use overseas leave allowances to judge your UK entitlement.
Sources
- Time off for family and dependants, GOV.UK
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 57A, legislation.gov.uk
- Unpaid parental leave: eligibility, entitlement and notice, GOV.UK
- Unpaid carer’s leave, GOV.UK
- Neonatal care pay and leave, GOV.UK
- Jury service: employee expense claims, GOV.UK
- Juror expenses, Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service
- Time off for public duties, GOV.UK
- Training and study at work: your rights, GOV.UK
- Attending pregnancy and adoption appointments, Acas
- Agency workers: rights after 12 weeks, Acas
- Lay-offs, guarantee pay and redundancy claims, GOV.UK
- Statutory redundancy pay: eligibility, GOV.UK
- Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2026, legislation.gov.uk
- Holiday entitlement, Acas
- Employment Rights Act 2025: changes in force and planned, Acas
- Employment tribunal time limits, Acas
- Time off and holidays in Northern Ireland, nidirect
- Make Work Pay: leave for bereavement, including pregnancy loss, government response, 22 September 2026, GOV.UK
- No one should have to fight for time to grieve: new rights for family bereavement and pregnancy loss, GOV.UK
- Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay (Miscarriage) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026, SR 2026/63, legislation.gov.uk
- More than half of carers juggling work and unpaid care cannot afford to take unpaid carer’s leave, Carers UK, 21 November 2024
- Employment tribunal award enforcement and naming scheme investigation, BBC News and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 2 October 2025
- Employment Rights Act implementation timeline, GOV.UK
- Employment Rights Act 2025 commencement: tribunal time-limit transitional rules, legislation.gov.uk