Unpaid leave for child sickness

[BartlebyTheScrivener]

Headteacher not happy today as I've taken a day to look after my child who is unwell. They have requested a meeting and said I may not be paid. Unfortunately I haven't recorded it, but I think I've had a total of 3 or 4 days absence for my children being ill this term. I share the care with my husband when they are sick, I have nobody else to so it. I am very rarely off sick, I drag myself in. I understand they are within their rights not to pay me, but I am interested in how many days your head allows you paid to care for a dependant.

Could you not WFH? I know you can’t teach from home obviously, but you could do admin or lesson planning for January?
You could then say you did WFH and therefore ask to be paid?
in regards to days - I would say 3-4 a year max. IANBU.

Yes, I did work from home for half the day today and I have each time I have been off with an sick child. Which Key Stage do you work in good96? Is 3 to 4 days paid your school's policy?

I have 30 paid child sick days per year. My husband has another 30. We don't usually need that many.
We aren't in the UK, though, and it's a benefit given to working parents regardless of their job. It's not an employer's decision and my slt might not be happy when I have to stay off for this but they can't really complain about it. I usually try to work from home for at least part of the day.

My dh gets 3 a year(secondary). 3 or 4 in a term is quite a lot so I wouldn’t be surprised it’s unpaid.

I’m not sure what my actual work policy is but I’m fairly confident my head would always pay me - however I’ve been lucky so far with healthy children & self & think I had maybe one day in the last 2 years for the dc & none for me.

30 paid days a year? So six weeks?! That’s immense. Where are you?

I think the burgundy book says five days for dependents, but at my school all leave is on a rolling twelve months, so if you also took time off in the last academic year, that would be taken into account now.

3 days here, so I had a day unpaid this week too. Wfh is not an option. Have to suck it up abd get on with it!

I teach in Germany.
My husband also gets 30, so we've got 60 in total. I think that'll go down to 10 each or so after April next year. It had been increased because of Covid.

We get 5 but it is on rolling basis too, so if you have had 4 this term and any other 2 since last December it would be unpaid at my school.

Thanks for your replies everyone, helpful to see what other schools do. Germany sounds like a great place for teachers working conditions Minimochi!

Just reiterate that you share these days with your dh and obviously have been unable to source childcare for a sick child. If they want to make it unpaid then fine, but I would stop dragging myself in when sick.

I think my Head would also query 4 days per term. That’s quite a lot, as if you’re sharing childcare, that’s approx 8 days your child has been sick in three months. That’s not necessarily extreme, given the number of bugs going around, but I can understand why your Head wanted a meeting. I didn’t know the Burgundy book was 5 days, is that 5 days paid? I’m sure our Head has given fewer paid days to a colleague of mine, but I’m not sure how many days they’d had off previously. It’s interesting though if that’s the case. And I agree, stop dragging yourself in sick, for the sake of everyone’s health it’s better if you stay at home.

Hi Hayliebells, I have two children, so that's 4 days each child. I don't think it was 4 days though- I've not kept track, will be doing so from January.

I’m pretty sure mine is five days total, per rolling year, not five days per child…

Burgundy book is here. I’ve skimmed it and can’t actually see anything about dependents’ leave. Sorry if my earlier post was inaccurate:

www.nasuwt.org.uk/static/uploaded/330e7539-3bf6-4538-a0346b6fef5994cc.pdf

Outdamnedspot, you misunderstood my previous comment. I'm not expecting 4 days per child, I'm replying to a previous poster who was saying that 8 days illness for one child per child seemed like they were ill a lot. I was explaining that I have two children and that it wasn't just one child being ill. My thread is not to complain about how much paid or unpaid leave I am getting, it is to find out what happens in other schools as it seems to be on a school or LEA basis and varies a bit.