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MNHQ

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

4 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

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MNHQ

JuliaMumsnet · 19/10/2021 16:32

[quote OddSockReunion]@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?[/quote]
Hi @OddSockReunion - this is a survey we ran after being contacted by Harriet Harman MP. She and Tory MP Caroline Nokes are working together cross-party to include this proposal - the extension statutory sick pay to cover a parent when a child of primary school or nursery age is sick - in the new Employment bill which is expected to come to Parliament in 2022. More info in this article: inews.co.uk/news/politics/harriet-harman-give-parents-paid-time-off-children-sick-mp-caroline-nokes-843091

MNHQ

JuliaMumsnet · 19/10/2021 16:42

@EdgeOfTheSky

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.

Hi @EdgeOfTheSky - we're on board with you there. The respondents were almost exclusively women so we don't have data to directly compare men and women but these figures effectively show the impact on women, which yep we all know will be higher. We thought these two quotes by mums were particularly telling:

"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.

“'I’m the primary carer and would take the time off anyway. I left a previous job as I wasn’t allowed time off (paid or unpaid) and had no other option.” - Mumsnet user

"I have been denied any unpaid parental leave. If it was a statutory entitlement I wouldn’t have had to leave my permanent full time job to do agency work” - Mumsnet user"

MNHQ

JuliaMumsnet · 19/10/2021 16:49

@JaninaDuszejko

It's definitely a situation where it's single parents and low earners have a much harder time. I have a colleague with 2 disabled children so they and their spouse both work PT to cover their care needs (a more equitable situation than someone having to be a SAHP). When DS was little and had regular hospital appointments DH would take a week or two of (unpaid) parental leave each year and thus freed up more annual leave for the hospital appointments but that was a choice we could easily afford, now the DC are older we can WFH when they are ill which makes it easier to return to work FT. The only colleague I can think of who took unpaid leave because they had used up all their annual leave was a single parent with an ex who at the time was refusing to do their share of the parenting, they eventually went PT to deal with this kind of situation.

Actually, that's something you haven't covered in your survey, how many parents permanently reduce their hours to care for sick children?

Hi @JaninaDuszejko - We did ask parents/mums and 10% had reduced their hours or dropped work due to caring responsibilities related to caring for a sick child.

Here are some of the quotes they gave:

  • “'I’m the primary carer and would take the time off anyway. I left a previous job as I wasn’t allowed time off (paid or unpaid) and had no other option.”
  • ”I have been denied any unpaid parental leave. If it was a statutory entitlement I wouldn’t have had to leave my permanent full time job to do agency work”
MNHQ

JuliaMumsnet · 19/10/2021 17:10

Thanks for your comments everyone - here are the quotes from Justine and MPs Harriet and Caroline for those asking what others countries do and about forthcoming opportunities for change:

Justine Roberts, founder and CEO of Mumsnet, said: “Most economically developed countries have a system of paid leave to provide short-term care to a sick child at home. Parents in paid work are losing desperately needed pay and holiday leave, and in the worst cases leaving work altogether to care for their sick children. Anecdotally we see on our forums that many parents have little choice but to send children into school sick, which obviously has repercussions for other pupils and school staff. The impact on workplaces of having parents who are stressed about arranging childcare and torn about their ill child shouldn't be underestimated. We need provisions in law that give parents a little bit of breathing space to care for their children.”

Harriet Harman, Labour MP and chair of Joint Committee on Human Rights said: “Public policy is completely out of date. Mothers are working now and not at home to look after a sick child. You can’t leave a young child on their own when they’re sick. But there’s no right to take time off, let alone sick pay. Of course this hits hardest at those on lower paid jobs. The forthcoming Employment Bill is our chance to insist that we put this right.”

Caroline Nokes, Conservative MP and chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, said: "We all knew pre pandemic the greater share of childcare responsibilities was on women, but the results of this survey are really stark. Women are carrying the economy by having to take so much leave, much of it unpaid, when children are sick or off school for other reasons. There are good fiscal reasons to support women forced to take time off in this way but also good societal reasons. It’s high time we recognised and valued this sort of invisible but vital contribution."

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