Time off for child illness

[SaveFerris1]

Just looking for opinions/ see what your work would do.
My youngest DS (10) has had to have emergency surgery this week. I work Monday to Wednesday so missed all of work last week. My DH and I have taken it in turns being with him but I have done the majority as it has worked out better that way and wouldn't have been at work Thursday Friday anyway. We also have another son at home so the other one is with him.
I had hoped he'd be home before the weekend but now looking likely it'll be Monday at the earliest he'd be home. It's been a stressful week, my head is not in the game and I don't think it will be until he's home.
What would your work expect of you if your child was in hospital? Would you go off sick? Would you get compassionate leave? Just wondering what the norm is. Work have been fine last week but unsure what they're going to say about the coming week.
Thanks 😊

Ours would grant a day or so of emergency leave but then expect you to be back or to take annual leave. But they aren't the most family friendly organisation

I got a day for planned surgery. Dsneeded 2 weeks off school afterwards which I had to use leave for.

At ours, we’d use annual or emergency parental leave, then would be able to take days unpaid or by holiday off them, whatever they advised would be finally best for me. They’d also happily accept a note signing me off by the GP for a week or so if I went that route, which for an emergency might be something I’d contemplate, if I was very upset. But maybe not, I’ve not been in that situation before.

I had this a few years ago, I go into work 3 days a week (but do around 40 hours in total), I never miss work with any children mild illnesses (4 DC). A colleague covered my work as much as possible. My DC was in 3 nights, out one day and back in 5 nights.

In the first week I came into work one day 9-5 when my DC was still in hospital and DH could be there, then I drove straight back to hospital to take over (I stayed 7 of the 8 nights). So I missed 4 days work total, felt guilty about both work, colleague and DC.

My work is NHS though and people will be massively upset if I am not there. In another job where I wouldn’t let people down so badly (eg if there was cover/swap shifts possible) I’d say take 2 weeks off any way you can get it.

You are entitled to emergency leave, short term. You can also apply for unpaid parental leave of up to 4 weeks for a child under 18, which of course in the current climate many people can't afford. In your case I'd be inclined to book annual leave or worst case GP for stress, which you certainly are with a very poorly child.

I hope things get better for you soon.

Sick leave is only if YOU are ill, compassionate leave if family close to you die. Some companies may have some days of parental leave as part of their contract but most likely, you need to ask for time off out of your annual leave entitlement.

You should be able to take parental leave. It's unpaid but will mean you can be off with your child. You are allowed 1 week per year per child up until the child is 18. But you can take it whenever as far as I am aware. Eg if your child is 8 and you've never had parental leave you are allowed 8 weeks.

You need to be with your child so you can only speak to them and let them know what’s happening, they can then let you know what’s available to you in terms of parental leave etc. I’m nhs and my son was in my own ward for over a week and they were fine, I can’t remember what it went down as tbh but they were really nice and understanding.

I hope your son is feeling better soon and home safe

www.gov.uk/time-off-for-dependants

You need to check your HR policies to see if this would be paid/unpaid and how many days they will grant under this leave

As other PPs have said- you might need to use parental leave (this is usually for pre planned time off) or annual leave

Hope your DC is ok

If it was planed surgery I’d be expected to use annual leave or unpaid carers leave. If it was an emergency surgery situation, following an accident or illness then I’d get signed off sick with stress (which would be true if it was a sudden issue)