Have your say on government e-petitions

Introduce statutory paid leave for 1 parent if child too ill for school/nursery

Submitted by Melanie Berard on Friday 21st November 2025

Published on Friday 19th December 2025

Current status: Open

Open until: Friday 19th June 2026

Current Signatures: 1,161
(count is updated approximately hourly)

Relevant Departments

Tagged with

Carry ~ Challenger ~ Child ~ Children ~ Children face ~ Equal ~ Face ~ Families ~ Gender ~ Mothers ~ Nursery ~ Parent ~ Promoting ~ risk ~ UK families ~ Wellbeing

Petition Action

Introduce statutory paid leave for 1 parent if child too ill for school/nursery

Petition Details

We call on the UK Government to give one parent per household a statutory right to paid leave when their child is too ill to attend nursery or school, with pay and requirements equivalent to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP).

Additional Information

All UK families with children face this challenge.

Women carry a disproportionate burden as mothers disproportionately care for children when sick.

Several other countries show this is possible, providing statutory paid leave to parents when children are off sick.

Without paid leave, parents face stress, financial hardship, and risk to employment.

Statutory paid leave would support child wellbeing, protect families financially, and promote gender equality.


If you want to sign this petition (as opposed to merely discuss it), you need to do that on the government's e-Petitions website.

Sign this petition
at petition.parliament.uk

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