Parental leave

[Meerkat9]

Can (unpaid) parental leave be used for hospital appointments for disabled child?

I've looked on the acas website (https://www.acas.org.uk/parental-leave) which suggests I can, but employer is adamant that I cannot.

Thanks

You can’t really, or you can but you would have to take the entire week off. You cannot take parental leave for 1 day, only in blocks of 1 week.

It says on the acas website:
Taking parental leave for a disabled childAn employee can take parental leave in blocks of days rather than weeks if they receive one of the following for their child:
Disability Living Allowance
Personal Independence Payment

Ds receives DLA

You can take carers leave - https://www.gov.uk/carers-leave#:~:text=Employees%20are%20entitled%20to%20unpaid,because%20of%20their%20old%20age

You can take parental leave for any reason you want. There are no restrictions.

As you receive DLA for your child, you can take leave in blocks of one day provided you give at least 21 days notice. Your employer can insist that you delay your leave for up to 6 months if it would cause serious disruption (which obviously isn't very useful if you intend to use it for a hospital appointment), but they cannot refuse it completely. If they want to postpone it, they must give you written notice stating the reason for the postponement and the proposed new date.

If your employer is refusing to allow you to take your parental leave, you need to pursue it with HR or a more senior manager, involving your union if you are in one. If that doesn't get anywhere, you could ask your employer to consult ACAS or another employers' advice service.

Worth highlighting this to your employer, looks like you’d still have to take a full day rather than an appointment slot & also bare in mind you have to apply with the 21 days notice and they can refuse that time for business reasons and delay it for I think it’s up to 6 months

What a terrible employer you have. Leave as soon as you are able.

I had an agreement with my employer to take unpaid leave for hospital appointments last year. When I tried to book this year I was told I would have to use my holiday first??
I told this to my union rep who didnt understand?? In my frustration I said to him I could just ring work last minute on the day and say I need to care for my son and the rep basically just said yeah okay do that.