PARENTS of seriously ill or disabled children should be given paid leave, the Children’s Commissioner insisted yesterday.

Dame Rachel de Souza said parents should not be forced to choose between holding down a job and being by their child’s bedside.

The government is currently consulting on both paid leave for parents in such circumstances and for unpaid carers, who are currently only entitled to unpaid time off work.

Dame Rachel said parents across the country have told her of the “impossible choices” they have made “splitting time between caring for their seriously ill and disabled children and trying to hold down a job.”

The commissioner is urging the government to introduce 12 weeks of paid leave at 90 per cent of normal pay for the parents of disabled children or those with serious mental or physical health conditions and to extend unpaid carer’s leave from five to 10 days a year.

She said: “Whether a child is diagnosed with cancer, sustains a brain injury, develops complex medical needs or experiences a serious mental health condition, they will need their primary carers to provide love, care and support throughout this time.”

Dame Rachel backed the introduction of Hugh’s Law, which proposes paid leave for parents of seriously or terminally ill children and is named after six-year-old Hugh Menai-Davis, who died in 2021 after suffering from cancer.

The commissioner said Hugh’s Law should be introduced alongside a form of paid carer’s leave and a right to return to work after a longer period away.

Future of Work minister Kate Dearden said the government “will move quickly” to consider strengthening support and employment rights for families facing serious childhood illness.