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MNHQ

Parents use annual leave or take unpaid leave to care for sick children - new Mumsnet survey

119 replies

JuliaMumsnet · 07/10/2021 15:03

Hello

This morning we released a survey of more than 1000 parents in partnership with Harriet Harman MP, and with input from Caroline Nokes MP, about how parents in paid work manage when their children are sick. It revealed that:

88% reported having taken time off work to care for a sick primary school aged child. Of these:

  • 39% had taken holiday/annual leave
  • 29% had taken paid leave
  • 29% had taken unpaid leave
  • 10% had reduced hours or dropped work
  • 7% had taken sick leave
  • 2% had left their job

Almost a third of parents (29%), and more than half of C2DE parents (52%), are taking unpaid leave to look after their children, with C2DE parents twice as likely to take unpaid leave than ABC1 parents (26%). Almost four in ten parents had taken holiday/annual leave to look after sick children. ABC1 parents were twice as likely (31%) to take paid leave to look after sick children compared to C2DE parents (15%).

The situation is even more dire for single parents, more than 90% of whom are women. Single parents were almost 60% more likely to take unpaid leave than parents living with a partner (43% compared to 27%).

12% of parents in the survey, most of whom were mothers, had reduced their hours, dropped work, or even left their job to deal with having sick children. 10% had reduced their hours or dropped work due to caring responsibilities related to caring for a sick child.

Unsurprisingly parents supported provision to be able to better manage their children’s sick days without losing pay or losing holiday time.

When asked if they would support extending statutory sick pay to cover a parent when a child of primary school or nursery age is sick, 90% of parents supported the idea, with only 6% opposing it.

More info here and our posts on Instagram here, twitter here and Facebook here.

Let us know what you think!

Thanks

MNHQ

OP posts:
OddSockReunion · 07/10/2021 16:30

If my children are unwell I take annual leave, I thought that was the norm?

You're not eligible for sick leave unless you are ill yourself in any company I've come across, so I don't know how 7% of people could take sick leave for someone else being sick? There's no way 7% of companies have a policy allowing that?

I couldn't afford to take unpaid leave, personally. So annual leave is my only option.

OddSockReunion · 07/10/2021 16:35

The situation is even more dire for single parents, more than 90% of whom are women. Single parents were almost 60% more likely to take unpaid leave than parents living with a partner (43% compared to 27%).

I find this surprising as well: yes the situation is certainly more dire for single parents! But being a lone parent with no local family so no other options for care of a sick child, I would be less likely to take unpaid leave because my children are totally reliant on my income from work so I could not afford to take unpaid leave from work!

With two adults contributing to mortgage, childcare, bills etc there would be more spare money so unpaid leave would be more likely to be a viable option. As a lone parent, I must provide financially and take care if the children so using paid annual leave for child sickness is the only option. I find that statistic rather baffling if you consider that lone parents are responsible for care and financial provision.

JenniferAllisonPhillipaSue · 07/10/2021 16:40

And the situation is even more dire if your child has additional needs that can result in lengthier periods or more frequent periods of sickness. We can only manage by having one full-time stay at home parent to cover this at short notice.

ProudDada · 07/10/2021 17:02

@OddSockReunion

If my children are unwell I take annual leave, I thought that was the norm?

You're not eligible for sick leave unless you are ill yourself in any company I've come across, so I don't know how 7% of people could take sick leave for someone else being sick? There's no way 7% of companies have a policy allowing that?

I couldn't afford to take unpaid leave, personally. So annual leave is my only option.

I imagine 7% pretend to be sick to look after their children, as many companies have good sick pay policies.
ImitationofBeing · 07/10/2021 18:17

It's just super... I can use up all my annual leave and we don't get a holiday. Or I can take unpaid leave and not afford a holiday.

CatsLikeBoxes · 07/10/2021 18:35

Some jobs don't have the choice of using annual leave, such as working in a school, so unpaid leave is the only option sometimes, regardless of whether you can afford that or not.

vodkaredbullgirl · 07/10/2021 18:40

As a single parent, I had to take unpaid leave.

HermioneWeasley · 07/10/2021 18:46

Why shouldn’t parents use annual leave to care for sick children? It’s a normal and expected part of childhood. Different if kids have medical issues, but why for the normal chicken pox, colds etc it’s surely part and parcel of having children

Miarara · 07/10/2021 19:02

@OddSockReunion I imagine if a child has a long term/serious illness the parent might be signed off sick with stress etc accounting for the 7%. Not all people have enough leave to always be able to use annual leave, if you're a single parent needing to sort out school hols etc there might not be enough leave left to allow for your child being sick, also some places don't allow leave to be booked last minute so if your child is ill that day then it's unpaid leave or go in, they're the only options and as you wouldn't leave a sick child alone unpaid leave it is.

OddSockReunion · 07/10/2021 19:21

I imagine 7% pretend to be sick to look after their children, as many companies have good sick pay policies.

Ahhh I see. It didn't occur to me that this percentage of people would lie to their employer. I suppose they feel that they do not have a choice.

I agree with PPs that it is awful that parents have to take annual leave to cover child sickness but unless a Government scheme is introduced that will reimburse employers for an employee's full salary in these circumstances (not some paltry SSP amount) this will remain the case for most people because unpaid leave is not an option, particularly as a single parent who is the sole earner.

It's rubbish to lose annual leave to this yes, when that is not its purpose. I've just never seen any other viable option. It's particularly hard when as a single parent working full time it's already much more difficult to cover school holidays with annual leave/ childcare than for a couple (even if they have the same combined net earnings - still twice as much annual leave as one single parent on average!) without having to use extra leave when children are unwell.

OddSockReunion · 07/10/2021 19:24

[quote Miarara]@OddSockReunion I imagine if a child has a long term/serious illness the parent might be signed off sick with stress etc accounting for the 7%. Not all people have enough leave to always be able to use annual leave, if you're a single parent needing to sort out school hols etc there might not be enough leave left to allow for your child being sick, also some places don't allow leave to be booked last minute so if your child is ill that day then it's unpaid leave or go in, they're the only options and as you wouldn't leave a sick child alone unpaid leave it is.[/quote]
I'm well aware of the difficulties of single parenting thank you, per my posts. I have been a lone parent since my children were babies. I'm not sure them being unwell qualifies me for getting signed off work though, unless it is a very serious long-term illness which as you say had also caused by health to collapse. That isn't 7% of parents.

OddSockReunion · 07/10/2021 19:26

@JenniferAllisonPhillipaSue

And the situation is even more dire if your child has additional needs that can result in lengthier periods or more frequent periods of sickness. We can only manage by having one full-time stay at home parent to cover this at short notice.
That's not an option for a single parent though! Many single parents also have children with SEN and obviously don't have the luxury of having a SAHP.
OddSockReunion · 07/10/2021 19:30

@HermioneWeasley

Why shouldn’t parents use annual leave to care for sick children? It’s a normal and expected part of childhood. Different if kids have medical issues, but why for the normal chicken pox, colds etc it’s surely part and parcel of having children
And children are "part and parcel" of society so there need to be systems in place to either: a) look after them when they are sick so that their parents can still work, or b) enable the parents to take care of themselves when they are sick (far preferable) without losing their income and thereby getting into financial difficulty.

There's always one, isn't there? Who has to post something about how children should just lump it because their parents have fallen on hard times or had a spouse die or walk out unexpectedly or even because their parents are just not very responsible. Let them starve or be left at home sick alone huh, so their parent(s) can still pay the mortgage?

OddSockReunion · 07/10/2021 19:31

*the parents to take care of them themselves when they are sick

OddSockReunion · 07/10/2021 19:36

@JuliaMumsnet can I ask what the purpose of this post is? Obviously most parents would support there being paid leave to take care of sick children because that would be humane and also reduce disadvantage to women and have economic benefits, not a cost. As long as the Government funded it in full.

BUT you know who is running the UK. It seems infeasible to persuade them to do this? What will you do with the opinions from this post; will Mumsnet be backing a campaign for this to be legislated?

BringPizza · 07/10/2021 20:53

I had to take 10 days unpaid leave when one of my DC was in intensive care earlier this year. Then the company swings round with its other face and tells me I’m a valued person Hmm I’m torn on this because a slew of paid parental leave for coughs and colds could sink a company on the edge, but a single parent/low income family with no support and a sick child is really over a barrel.

EdgeOfTheSky · 07/10/2021 21:31

MNHQ, you use ‘parents’ a lot in that summary, but I would very much like to see that broken down into mothers, fathers, an single parents.

Because I suspect the stats look very different for each of these groups.

From reading MN and as an employer myself I would say far more mothers take time out of work (on whatever basis) than fathers. I would like all employers to create a culture where men take equal responsibility for the sick days.

It’s hugely detrimental to women’s position in the workplace if measured to support child sickness are seen as primarily in support of women rather than all parents.

Danikm151 · 07/10/2021 22:03

I can’t take annual leave at short notice so had to tell work I was sick when my son was. Otherwise I would have lost over £150 of my monthly income

Ki0612 · 07/10/2021 22:44

We both work in a school so can't take annual leave and have no family help. We paid for chicken pox vaccine for our daughter as it was cheaper than taken unpaid leave.

gogohm · 07/10/2021 22:54

Just because someone is a single parent, it doesn't necessarily mean there's not another parent. That aside, before having children do people not discuss things like this? It's why I stayed home with mine and then found a flexible employer, yes I paid for it in career prospects but my kids came first

OddSockReunion · 08/10/2021 00:29

@Ki0612

We both work in a school so can't take annual leave and have no family help. We paid for chicken pox vaccine for our daughter as it was cheaper than taken unpaid leave.
And presumably to avoid a horrible and possibly dangerous illness for her!

Shocking that after decades the NHS still don't give the chicken pox vaccine as part of the standard vaccination schedule like in other developed countries.

OddSockReunion · 08/10/2021 00:31

@gogohm

Just because someone is a single parent, it doesn't necessarily mean there's not another parent. That aside, before having children do people not discuss things like this? It's why I stayed home with mine and then found a flexible employer, yes I paid for it in career prospects but my kids came first
Some people are lone parents, not single parents.

Yes, I did think about how childcare arrangements would work before having children. I hadn't bargained on my husband fucking off while they were both still babies though, silly me.

Lovely that you can stay at home with your children. What exactly would you do if your husband vanished? Still be so sanctimonious?

madisonbridges · 08/10/2021 03:53

I've had to cover for single parents that have gone off because their children are ill or have had accidents. The institution seemed to think that was OK. Why not? I just doubled my workload. One person did it regularly. If a childless person had gone off to look after someone, management would have deducted it from their annual leave and given them a roasting for taking the mickey. .

Snog · 08/10/2021 06:18

My DH took more than 50% of the time needed for being at home with our child when she was ill. My mum also chipped in on some days. I think it's wrong when fathers don't pick up their share on this.

DH earned more than me at this time.

AdriannaP · 08/10/2021 08:23

@OddSockReunion

If my children are unwell I take annual leave, I thought that was the norm?

You're not eligible for sick leave unless you are ill yourself in any company I've come across, so I don't know how 7% of people could take sick leave for someone else being sick? There's no way 7% of companies have a policy allowing that?

I couldn't afford to take unpaid leave, personally. So annual leave is my only option.

Yes of course there are companies that allow that! I used to work for one, you could take paid leave to care for someone (sick child or partner, parent) - my DH has a similar policy. Quite standard in a lot of EU countries (we are in England though).