Can an employee take unpaid leave?

As an employer, you probably have a good understanding of what paid annual leave your employees are entitled to. But when it comes to unpaid holiday, the situation is often much less clear.

There are several reasons why an employee might want to take unpaid leave. This can include caring responsibilities, career breaks or just wanting a bit of extra time off.

So, how much unpaid leave is an employee entitled to request? Can the employer refuse these requests? And how much time can an employee take? In most cases, the answer to these questions is the same: It's entirely the employer's choice. 

In the UK, roughly 22% of businesses offer some level of voluntary unpaid leave. But there's no obligation to do so outside of a small number of specialised cases.

But before you can decide on your unpaid leave policy, it's first helpful to understand the few situations in which you have to grant it.

Can employees take unpaid leave from work?

In the vast majority of situations, there are no laws governing an employee's entitlement to unpaid leave. In practice, that means it's the employer's choice whether or not they will grant it.

4 types of statutory unpaid leave 

That said, there are a few areas where unpaid leave is protected by law:

• Certain types of parental leave
• Shared parental leave
• Certain cases of bereavement and funerals
• Time off to carry out public duties, specifically jury duty

Outside of this, unpaid leave approval is at the employer's discretion.

1. Unpaid parental leave

Eligible employees are able to take unpaid parental leave to look after a child’s welfare. According to Government guidelines, parents can take leave to:

• spend more time with their children
• look at new schools
• settle children into new childcare arrangements
• spend more time with family, such as visiting grandparents

Parental leave is unpaid and entitles eligible working parents to take up to 18 weeks’ leave for each child, or adopted child, up until they reach the age of 18. Each parent is limited to 4 weeks in each year for each child, and leave must be taken in full weeks, rather than individual days.

It's important to note that parental leave applies to each child not an individual’s job, and any parental leave already taken is carried across to a new employer.

For instance, if an employee has used 10 weeks of parental leave with a previous employer, they can only have 8 weeks with their new employer once they are eligible.

2. Shared parental leave

Shared parental leave enables eligible employees to choose how they share their time off work after the birth or adoption of their child. This leave gives parents flexibility on how they share caring responsibilities.

Eligible parents can share up to 50 weeks of leave (of which 37 can be paid). They can choose to be off work together or to stagger leave to share out their work and time off commitments.

For more information on shared parental leave, see the ACAS guide here.

Read more: Check out the full step-by-step guide to parental employment rights.

3. Unpaid leave for bereavement

If an employee is going through a bereavement, they may be entitled to paid or unpaid leave, depending on the circumstances.

• Under Jack's Law, bereaved parents are usually entitled to up to two weeks' paid leave. However, if they've been employed for fewer than 26 weeks, or earn below the lower earnings limit (£125 from April 2025), they will only be entitled to unpaid leave.

• If the employee has lost a dependent, they are entitled to 'reasonable time off'. This generally applies to spouses, parents and children – though the definition is quite broad. The law doesn't specify how long this time off should be, though employees are generally entitled to unpaid leave for funerals.

In practice, the only people entitled to statutory paid leave during bereavement are parents who qualify under Jack's Law. For everybody else, unpaid leave is generally applicable depending on their relationship with the deceased person.

Read more: Compassionate & bereavement leave: What are the rules?

4. Time off for jury service and public duties

The other major exception is anything involving public duties like jury service. Here, employees are entitled to time off. While some employers may choose to pay their employees for this time, there is no legal requirement to do so.

Employees can request a ‘reasonable' amount of time to carry out duties if they hold a position such as school governor, local councillor or trade union member. However, the employer is able to refuse this request for time off, if they think it is unreasonable.

An employer cannot refuse time off for jury or magistrate service. If the time off is taken as unpaid leave, the employee can claim for loss of earnings from the court.

How will the Employment Rights Bill change the rules on unpaid leave?

As you may be aware, the Government is currently in the process of passing a significant update to employment laws. For the most part, this won't change the overall advice in this blog, since the bill isn't currently set to introduce a universal entitlement to unpaid leave.

However, there are a few small situations in which the new laws will change some of the unpaid leave entitlements we mentioned above. Here's what you need to know:

• Parents will be entitled to unpaid parental leave from the first day of employment. Currently, this benefit is only available after 26 weeks.

• Similarly, the 26-week limit for Jack's Law will be removed, meaning more parents will be entitled to paid leave in the difficult time of mourning their deceased child or dependent.

• The law will also introduce a more wide-ranging right to paid bereavement leave. It's not currently clear which bereavements this will apply to. But it will likely mean most employees will be entitled to unpaid leave after a bereavement.

Currently, we're expecting this bill to come into force gradually over the next two years, though it's not currently clear when these changes will apply.

Read more: Employment Rights Bill published: Key takeaways for SMEs

When else might an employee request unpaid leave? 

So far, we've covered all the instances of unpaid leave that are protected by the law. But of course, there are several other reasons an employee may want to take time off, including:

• Time off to study 
• Career breaks
• Time off to care for non-dependents 
• Healthcare appointments 

In these cases, it's entirely at the discretion of the employer whether to grant these requests.

In some cases, such as the occasional dentist visit, these may be at the discretion of an individual manager. In other situations, such as time off to study, broader business approval may be necessary.

How to create a formal unpaid leave policy

Creating an unpaid leave policy is a helpful way of laying out what employees are entitled to. This helps create a fairer approach to time off for everybody.

Ultimately, relying on a piecemeal approach to unpaid leave can result in disparities across the business. What if one manager agrees to let their team pop to the dentist without any formalities, while another manager logs the same type of appointment as unpaid leave?

That's why consistency is important. Here's what your policy should include:

• Clearly state scenarios in which unpaid leave should or shouldn't be granted, i.e. bereavement, time off to study, caring commitments, etc.
• Specify whether the request can be granted by the manager or should be escalated to HR. Generally, anything longer than a single day will be escalated but not always
• Explain how much notice an employee should give before requests can be granted
• Define how long a simple unpaid leave request can last for and how many upaid leave days an employee can request in a single year
• Reiterate that employees can request unpaid time off when the law protects their right to do so
   

You may want to include some of these terms in your employment contracts to ensure everybody is on the same page before they accept a job offer. Alternatively, you may want to use a looser form of words, perhaps reiterating that unpaid leave will be granted according to the company policy, but reserving the right to refuse.

The effect of unpaid leave on your business

As helpful as unpaid leave can be for employees, it's important to remember that some employee groups will need to use this facility more than others. Disabled colleagues and parents may find themselves using unpaid holiday in order to fit work around their medical appointments and care commitments.

Therefore, there's a risk of creating an unfair balance in your business if unpaid leave is used as the solution to all healthcare and family-related requests. Therefore, where possible, it's often more helpful to adopt a flexible working policy instead of relying on unpaid leave.

This allows employees to balance their healthcare or caring commitments without taking unpaid time off work. This, in turn, can contribute towards a more productive and inclusive workforce.

Whether working from home or working more flexible hours, a flexible approach to working can reduce the need for unpaid leave, helping improve employee financial wellbeing and support a positive company culture.

With Breathe, you can process flexible working requests from a centralised location in a fast, consistent and effective way. Find out more.

FAQs: Unpaid leave in the UK

Is an employer legally required to offer unpaid leave to employees in the UK?

In most situations, no. Outside of specific statutory entitlements like certain types of parental leave, shared parental leave, bereavement in specific circumstances, and time off for public duties (like jury service), the decision to grant unpaid leave is generally at the employer's discretion.

What are the main types of unpaid leave that UK employers are legally obligated to provide?

The main types of statutory unpaid leave include:

• Certain types of parental leave (up to 18 weeks per child, with a limit of 4 weeks per parent per year).

• Shared parental leave (up to 50 weeks, 37 of which can be paid).

• Unpaid leave for bereavement in specific cases (e.g., for employees with less than 26 weeks of service or earning below the lower earnings limit following the loss of a child or dependent under Jack's Law).

• Time off for public duties, such as jury service (though employers are not legally required to pay for this time).

Our company doesn't currently have a formal policy on unpaid leave. What are the benefits of creating one?

Creating a formal unpaid leave policy promotes consistency and fairness across your business. It clarifies the circumstances under which unpaid leave may or may not be granted, the process for requesting it, the amount of notice required, and any limitations on the duration of leave.

This helps avoid disparities in how different managers handle requests and ensures all employees understand the company's approach.

How might the upcoming Employment Rights Bill affect the rules around unpaid leave?

The Employment Rights Bill is expected to bring a few changes, including:

• Entitling parents to unpaid parental leave from their first day of employment (currently after 26 weeks).

• Removing the 26-week service limit for paid leave under Jack's Law, meaning more bereaved parents will be eligible for paid leave.

• Introducing a more wide-ranging right to paid bereavement leave (the specific scope of which is still to be clarified).

Beyond the legally required situations, what are some common reasons an employee might request unpaid leave, and how should employers approach these requests?

Employees may request unpaid leave for various reasons such as study, career breaks, caring for non-dependents, or healthcare appointments. In these cases, the decision to grant the leave is entirely at the employer's discretion.

It's advisable to consider each request fairly, taking into account the employee's circumstances, the impact on the business, and the consistency of your approach with other employees. A clear unpaid leave policy can guide these decisions.