Rules re time off to care for sick children

[Grockle]

Hello

Am rubbish at googling and don't know where to look for this info but I was wondering what the law says about having time off work when your children are sick?

I'm feeling guilty at having today off because DS is unwell having had 3 days off a couple of weeks ago due to an industrial injury and knowing what the rules are might make me feel better.

TIA

If you care for a child you qualify for unpaid parental leave.

Have a google on that.

Depending on your employer, there may be the facility for paid "carers days". My employer grants 2 paid days a year (and it's not just for children" but what people often don't realise is that these days are to allow you the opportunity to make arrangements for care, not necessarily to do the actual caring, if that makes sense

There's lots of information on parental leave and other employment stuff here

Regardless of individual policies in workplaces, the legal position is that they have to let you take the time off to deal with emergencies and arrange alternative care for your children.

Which in effect means the odd day here and there for accidents, but once you've established that a child needs caring for a few days you need to find someone else to do the caring so that you can get back to work.

Thank you for all the info. Work have been fab - they know I am a lone parent, with no family nearby. I do have regular childcare in place but obviously, they cannot care for a child who is being sick.

I just needed to know more info to ease my guilt at not being in work today. I am working from home but it makes life difficult for everyone else if I am not actually there and I feel bad.