Help during the school holidays

The school holidays can be a source of stress and anxiety for many families whose work situation doesn’t allow any flexibility to manage childcare and who can’t afford additional childcare costs.

School holidays are a pinch point for families with school-aged children because the usual pattern of care changes, but work demands don’t. Annual leave allowance leaves parents with a shortfall of an average 7.4 weeks to cover. This situation is even more challenging for single parents who can’t share the load with a partner. As it often falls to the parent on the lower income to take the leave, the burden of taking unpaid time off tends to fall more heavily on women due to the gender pay gap.     

Our research has found that four in ten families on lower incomes have gone into debt to manage childcare, nearly half have had to reduce their hours, and a fifth have quit their job altogether to manage childcare. The current situation is bad news for families, which is why we are calling for increased and more targeted financial support for childcare, and for more employers to offer flexibility so that parents can manage this particularly pressurised time of year. But for those parents and carers who need support in the here and now, here are some options that are available to you.

Family, friends, and holiday clubs

Many parents rely on a complex web of informal networks of friends and family to help cover the gaps in caring throughout the year, especially during the holidays given the cost of holiday clubs and formal childcare. However, with families often spread across the country, this is not an option for everyone.

Parents often group together with friends to cover particular days and then reciprocate in a shared care arrangement.

Your local council or community organisations may be running free or subsidised holiday clubs or childcare schemes. You can also search for childcare or your local Family Information Service (who should be able to tell you about any holiday schemes running in your local area) on the Family and Childcare Trust website. You can also find more information about additional support available during school holidays on the Turn 2 Us website.

Check your entitlements

It’s important to make sure you’re getting all the help you’re entitled to. For support with childcare costs check out our overview of the help available. You can also use the Government’s online calculator or check what options are available to you on the Childcare Choices website.

It’s also worth checking you’re receiving the right amount of benefits and financial support by using an online benefits calculator.

If you’re on Universal Credit, see our advice on getting help with childcare costs. If your income is usually too high to qualify for Universal Credit, it’s worth checking if increased childcare costs during the summer holidays might make you eligible. To get help with your childcare costs, your childcare provider needs to be registered. You can check the types of childcare that you can get help with on the Government website.

If you don’t qualify for Universal Credit, you may be eligible for help with childcare costs through Tax-Free Childcare instead.

If you’re entitled to any funded hours of free childcare, you could stretch your entitlement so that you receive fewer hours each week but get the childcare during school holidays too. Check whether your childcare provider will allow you to do this. 

Your options using employment rights

It’s a good idea to know what your rights are when it comes to covering any shortfall between the holidays and the time needed to provide additional care:

Annual Leave 

Employees have a statutory entitlement to 5.6 weeks paid annual leave per year. Part-time workers must have the same entitlement as their full-time colleagues. This will be the pro-rata amount of the 28 days full time equivalent.   

In order to take annual leave, you need to give your employer notice of the leave you intend to take. This notice needs to be at least twice the amount of the intended leave; for example, you need to give 10 days’ notice to take 5 days’ leave. However, as many parents may want to take leave during the school holidays, it is best to ask well in advance.   

Employers can restrict the length or timing of annual leave as long as they give you sufficient notice. This notice needs to be at least as long as the length of the proposed leave; for example if you want to take a week’s leave, then your employer needs to give you at least a week’s notice.   

Parental Leave 

Note – from 6th April 2026, parental leave will become a day 1 right.

Employees who are parents of children under 18 have a legal right to request  unpaid parental leave if they have been with their employer at least a year. Parents can take up to a four weeks per child per year, up to a total of 18 weeks per child before the child is 18. Parents have to take this leave in blocks of a week, unless their child is disabled and entitled to Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payment  in which case they can take leave in blocks of a day. Your employer cannot refuse you leave or penalise you for taking parental leave. However, there are  circumstances in which employers can postpone parental leave.  

These are the statutory rules and your employer may offer more generous or flexible terms so it is worth checking your workplace policy. 

Flexible Working Request  

We have  a wealth of resources on how to negotiate and make a flexible working request. If granted, a statutory flexible working request is permanent, so make clear if you only need a temporary arrangement  during the school holidays. 

Types of flex to accommodate holidays can include:   

• Requesting to work term time hours only while you have school aged children – 39 weeks of the year.   
• Working on an annualised hours basis, where you do a number of working hours across a year, but work more hours during school terms so as to work less days in holiday periods, which combined with annual leave can then result in better cover without the same reduction in pay for.   
• Flexi time – working a different pattern or working more from home to accommodate caring during holidays, depending on the nature of your role. Many did this during the pandemic, working early or late to fit around childcare.   

Flexible working isn’t just good for people, it’s good for business. Many employers report productivity gains, improved morale, increased engagement, and improved staff retention when flexibility is offered.  Flexible working can also help support equity, diversity, and inclusion objectives. 

Emergency time off for dependants 

Given the complex web of arrangements that may be in place in the summer, if you are an employee and the childcare you have arranged falls through at short notice, you are legally entitled to unpaid emergency time off for dependants, but this does not apply to planned time off. Again, your employer may offer more generous or flexible terms so it is worth checking your workplace policy. 

Sick Leave

You shouldn’t take sick leave to care for your children in the holidays. Not only will it be a breach of your employer’s policies, it could lead to you having an excessive amount of leave which may result in attendance management trigger points and ultimately being at risk of losing your job. 

Check to see if your employer has any relevant policies

Check to see if you employer has any policies to support employees needing time off for childcare as these can be more generous than your statutory rights, for example, many employers offer paid emergency time off for dependents.

This advice applies in England, Wales and Scotland. If you live in another part of the UK, the law may differ. If you are in Northern Ireland you can visit the Labour Relations Agency or call their helpline Workplace Information Service on 03300 555 300.

Our helpline and online contact form is now closed as we wind down our operations. Our free legal advice pages remain available and up to date until further notice. You can find a list of trusted organisations that may be able to help you below.