EHCP can I ask for school holidays off?

[Moohound70]

Hi All,

 

My son has special needs and has an EHCP in place, he has poor muscle tone and muscle weakness and I feel he benefits from spending time outdoors and being active etc. Do I have any rights to be granted leave during school holidays to accommodate his needs?

 

Kind Regards

 

Moo

[king12345]

It depends how good or bad your employer is.

Asking doesn't cost anything,  so do it.

I suppose they know about your son's condition,  otherwise you must let them know officially. 

[unclebulgaria67]

Have you approached organisations that help people with employment rights, specifically about caring responsibilities for the disabled ?

 

As you are asking on a forum, it seems like your employers have no official position on helping employees with caring responsibilities for disabled ?  You would have raised this with your Line Manager or Human Resources first ?  They have said that you do not have a priority for leave, over other staff.

 

What have your employers told you ?

 

Here is a link that may help you.

 

https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/work-and-career/other-rights-at-work

[Moohound70]

Thanks for the replies

 

I asked the union ages ago but have not had a reply as the rep is on long term sick, I don't currently have a line manager as the post has been vacant for 4 months but we have someone starting at the end of the month. I am a Band 6 theatre team leader for a large NHS trust. 

 

My old Band 7 was flexible with the % of staff allowed off at once which is one at once and allowed 2 at a time and everyone was happy with that, she realised there needs to be a work life balance and that experienced people will leave if treated poorly.

 

 I am not sure how the new Band 7 will calculate it as she is quite inexperienced ( only 6 months as a Band 6) and it is a 6 month secondment and she will have to reapply  for a substantive post after that, I am concerned she may be budget and target driven, as I know she really wants to keep the promotion.

 

I want to know if I have any rights before i raise it with her, the matron or HR etc.

 

Kind Regards

 

Moo

[ericsbrother]

you only have rights if you enforce them so try speaking to any charity that deals with your son's disability and get their advice and then approach your employer armed with this information.

Normally if you want to bag certain dates for your A/L you need to get your holiday form in on the 2nd jan

I also note that you are already mitigating your failure before you have even started to do anything- stop it and be positive and assertive so when you ask for the dates you say you NEED them not "please can I have these, I know it may be awkward but be nice to me."

[Moohound70]

I had help from the KIDS charity when we first applied for the EHCP and they were great, I will ask them. I do tend to not be very assertive with things like this. I do think I need a change of approach. 

[king12345]

I wanted to avoid saying this because the employers masqueraded as union reps on this site will inevitably attack me as usual, but here it comes:

When I need holidays i tell my line manager: "I won't be in on these dates"

I give plenty of notice so to avoid problems. 

Only once a manager said that if i took holidays they would be unpaid and unauthorised despite an official large family reunion and 4 months notice.

HR informed and manager moved because he refused to see me in the office after my "betrayal".

But to do this you have to be in a position in which you're either essential to the business or ready to leave at the drop of a hat (or simply enjoy a good fight with no care for the consequences)

[Moohound70]

Thanks for the replies,

 

I have found advice from ACAS about how to word your case which has been useful. I can't say "I won't be in on those dates" as we have a policy for booking leave and it has to be approved on our online roster system.

 

I think what I need to do is make the case that if I get the dates I feel my son needs there is less chance I will need to take emergency leave at very short notice leaving the service very short of staff. Also I think there is some scope for using anti discrimination legislation as his special needs are a protected characteristic.

 

I am important to the running of the service as I have more clinical experience that anyone else there and my skills would be missed if I left, My other option is to actually leave and work on the agency as and when I wish.

 

I have only known one other person have this accepted but that was when I worked at the other hospital in out group which had a large pool of experienced staff, and this was because she was widowed young and had no child care for her 3 kids.

 

I don't know anyone else who has applied for flexible working.

[king12345]

Why don't you ask for it via the normal procedure and if they decline then think about all you can throw at them?

[Moohound70]

We can request 1 year in advance, so have asked for 1 week at easter and 1 week at spring half term for next year I will see what happens, they have not been approved as yet.