Workers that need to look after a sick child under the age of 16 or support a child under exam strain will be entitled to unpaid leave under a deal between government and unions, agreed yesterday.

Current legislation states that unpaid leave is only applicable until the youngest child is six.

The legislation will mean that parents with a year’s continuous service will be entitled to 13 weeks of unpaid parental leave per child. No more than four weeks can be taken in a year. Workers must give 21 days’ notice if they want to support children through exams. Employers can postpone the leave if it would mean ‘undue disruption’, though leave would be required to be rescheduled within six months of the initial request.

Neil Carberry, head of employment at trade body The Confederation of British Industry, told the Daily Mail that small business would suffer. He said: “In the current economic climate, now is not the time to burden them [small businesses] with another employment regulation.”