Anyone used unpaid parental leave

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Ds is 7 and has asd. The lack of suitable holiday provision is a nightmare and while appealing la to get some respite and additional help they still don't do anything for full days of school holidays. I work shifts and some weeks can just work 1 day a week, others 3 days. I'm considering using the unpaid parental leave when I reallt struggle in future and wondered if anyone else has and how it worked? I believe as ds is disabled I can use odd days as opposed to block weeks, according to gov website anyway,

Thanks

Talk to your HR department at work - it is work place specific so may not get much help from here. The direct gov website dictates the minimum your workplace needs to allow, your work may offer more especially for children with additional needs. Then the effect on you pay etc again will be determined by company policy (I.e comes off in a lump sum, spread through out the year)

Yes I’m on 3 weeks parental leave at the minute. No special needs so I need to use it in blocks of full weeks. I just make sure to book it well enough in advance so if they request a change in the dates I can organise different suitable dates and arrange childcare for the dates I will be working, although they have approved my requests so far. It makes summer holidays so much easier, and I know some people tell me they could never afford to lose the pay, but what you get back in time with your kids, time for yourself and less stress is so worth it for me.

I work in a school so can’t book time off during term. My disabled son has a lot of hospital appointments so I use parental leave to take the time off, unpaid.

Does your DS get DLA or similar? I asked a question recently in the SN forum and apparently your child needs to be receiving DLA to qualify for taking parental leave in 1 day blocks (although some workplaces could allow more flexibility). My daughter has a lot of medical appointments due to some mobility issues but I can’t take parental leave for these as she doesn’t qualify for DLA. I do plan to use parental leave for school holidays when she starts school.