Work and Families Act: definition of a ‘carer’ announced

Employment Relations Minister Jim Fitzpatrick has today (9 November) announced the defintion of what a carer is for the purposes of the right to request flexible working clause in the Work and Families Act.

Employees with young children already legally have the right to request flexible working and under the Work and Families Act 2006 this right will be extended to carers from 6 April 2007.

The definiton of what constitutes a carer has been decided after consultation with various carers groups and business organisations.

The defintion of carer will be an employee who is or expects to be caring for an adult who:

• is married to, or the partner or civil partner of the employee; or
• is a near relative of the employee; or
• falls into neither category but lives at the same address as the employee.

The 'near relative' definition includes parents, parent-in-law, adult child, adopted adult child, siblings (including those who are in-laws), uncles, aunts or grandparents and step-relatives.

Jim Fitzpatrick said:

"The Government understands how difficult it can be for people to balance their work with caring for someone who is sick or disabled. We want to make sure that as many carers as possible have the right to request flexible working while at the same time not placing an unnessessary burden on business.

"We consulted with business, unions and carer's groups about the definition of which carers will be covered by the legislation. We have decided to go with the option that best balances the views of these groups and will cover around 80% of carers."