Annual leave for children's illness?

[BeaveredBadgered]

Posting for traffic really. How does the organisation you work for process leave taken to stay at home with your child when they're unwell?

My manager has informed me the policy at work is to take annual leave but with my DD having just started nursery I'm concerned I'll need to use all of my entitlement to stay off when she inevitably catches bugs and wondered what other companies offer in terms of leave for dependants.

Thanks!

[WineIsMyMainVice]

Unpaid leave or annual leave.

[RhodaBorrocks]

My workplace provides 2 days (used to be 5) carers leave and after that it's annual leave or unpaid leave.

[Flisstizzy]

Annual leave, unpaid leave or my preferred option making the hours back up.

[NotAPuffin]

Annual leave, or unpaid leave (but we're technically supposed to apply for the 6 weeks in advance so it's no use in an emergency).

[UnlikelyRunner]

Unpaid or annual leave. Wouldn't be fair for the rest of the working population any other way.

[greenmidgetgems]

We have flexible working so if you need time off for family we make it up elsewhere or work from home in the evening. If you know it's going to be more than a few days off you would be expected to take annual leave.

[Musicinthe00ssucks]

I work in the public sector and the policy is to use annual leave. I do have an understanding manager now who will allow me to work from home as well.

The first couple of years of nursery are awful for catching bugs but it gets much better once they are in pre-school.

[NapQueen]

Annual leave / shift swap / unpaid leave.

Can you share the time off with her dad if he is around?

[Justanothernameonthepage]

Parental leave (although also used for other family emergencies.) We get 2 days a year and is designed to buy enough time (couple of hours) to sort out childcare. Other than that holiday or unpaid leave

[Muddlingalongalone]

If DD1 is ill I tend to work from home. Book the hours of productive work & make the rest up with flexi time.
Otherwise it's emergency parental leave (unpaid) or annual leave.

[Trottersindependenttraders]

Annual leave where I work. Work from home if the job allows. Just one of those things I'm afraid, you'll get used to the juggling. By the time they get to school you're used to it and then you need annual leave for sports day, harvest festival and to cover the holidays!

[BeaveredBadgered]

Thanks everyone.

Yes, can share the load with DH luckily but I've a feeling there'll be some negotiating to be done each time as to who needs to go to work the most.

I'm happy to take unpaid leave as I might want to save some annual leave for actual holidays- I'll check with my manager/HR whether this is an option.

[raindripsonruses]

Annual leave or unpaid leave. Parental leave if an emergency (hospital etc). Why ?

[bnotts]

Annual leave or with agreement unpaid leave. And yes first year in nursery I saved almost all my annual leave for sickness and only took it at the end of the year. Public sector so if you had dependents you could also carry over up to 3 days unused leave from previous year specifically to use for child sickness.

[Permanentlyexhausted]

Annual leave or unpaid leave if I have to take the whole day off. I can sometimes make the time up on a different day if I'm only off for part of the day.

[Yura]

Annual leave, days of in lieu (rare), or very occasionally working from home (only for half days though, as you don't get much work done while looking after a sick child).

[Permanentlyexhausted]

Be careful with unpaid leave though as it will have an effect on your pension contriubtions.

[Me624]

My company - annual leave or unpaid leave if I needed to take a full day off. If I left early because DS was being sent home from nursery, they would be more flexible about it and probably allow me to make up the time.

DH's job is more flexible and will allow him to work from home, so he'll be doing the bulk of the sickness care! Except that he travels a fair bit, so when he's away it will obviously fall to me.

[mumofmunchkin]

For me, either annual leave or unpaid leave.

DH gets about 5 days paid "emergency family leave" a year.

[Iggi999]

I have up to five days for emergency care. Teacher so can't take annual leave.

[harderandharder2breathe]

In my role working from home isn't possible. Standard hours is full time over 4 days (with or without children), so changing your day off might be an option. But generally for sick children it's unpaid leave. Emergency holiday might be used instead to make sure you get paid.

[welshweasel]

Annual leave here. You might be lucky though, DS started nursery 9 months ago and has only been off once.

[DontTouchTheMoustache]

permanentlyexhausted does it really? I didn't know that! What effect does it have?

[rainingkitsandpups]

Annual leave.

That's the fairest thing. You might want to save it for a holiday but the company presumably needs you there or they wouldn't have hired you. Every time you're off it's inconvenient to them and someone needs to cover your work. They've set out how many days a year they can spare you. Wether that's because you're on the sofa with a poorly toddler or by the pool with a cocktail it's the same outcome for your work.

[BeaveredBadgered]

Thanks all. I've since contacted a colleague and it seems parental leave and paid domestic leave are also available to take in this situation so I might squeeze in a couple of holidays yet!