New legislation: Neonatal leave and pay
New legislation concerning neonatal leave and pay will come into force from 6 April 2025.
Neonatal care leave will apply to parents of babies who are admitted into neonatal care. Eligible parents will be able to access up to 12 weeks of leave (and, where eligible, pay) on top of their other leave entitlements, such as maternity or paternity leave.
The aim of this new right is to allow parents dedicated time to spend with their baby while they are receiving medical care, without that eating into their maternity, paternity or shared parental leave. The hope is that this will provide some peace of mind to parents who find themselves in this difficult situation. This forms part of the Government’s Plan for Change and 60,000 new parents are expected to benefit from this.
Who is eligible?
Neonatal care leave (‘NCL’) is intended to support employees whose baby is receiving, or has received, neonatal care. This will be a day one right for employees and will apply to babies born after 6th April 2025.
What counts as “neonatal care”?
Neonatal care must have taken place or begun within the first 28 days of birth (counting from the day after the baby is born) and care must continue for a period of at least 7 continuous days (beginning on the day after neonatal care starts). There are three narrow categories of medical care which will count as “neonatal care”:
any medical care received in a hospital;
medical care received elsewhere following discharge from hospital. Such care must be under the direction of a consultant and includes ongoing monitoring and visits to the child by healthcare professionals; or
palliative or end of life care.
(The legislation doesn’t cover hospital stays that occur after the first four weeks of the baby’s life).
Leave and pay
The length of NCL will be dependent on how long the baby receives neonatal care but is capped at a maximum of 12 weeks. Parents will be able to take one week of leave in respect of each week the baby receives neonatal care without interruption. The week begins on the day after care started.
Any leave must be taken within 68 weeks of the baby’s birth (or placement or entry to Great Britain in the event of adoption). The basic idea of NCL is that it will be tagged onto the end of the employee’s family leave. This is because an employee whose baby is admitted for neonatal care is highly likely to be on some other family leave at that time – typically maternity or paternity leave. The idea is then that they would be able to take NCL at the end of their planned family leave, so that the time their baby spent in neonatal care is compensated for. There are notice requirements for taking NCL and employees are expected to provide notice of their intention to take NCL.
The right to receive statutory neonatal care pay (‘SNCP’) requires 26 weeks of service and earnings on average of at least £123 a week. This statutory pay is paid at the same rate as other family leave payments, such as maternity or paternity pay.
Rights during a period of NCL
As with other family leave entitlements, employees will remain entitled to the same terms and conditions of employment, with the exception of pay. Employees will also be protected from detriment and dismissal for exercising their right to take NCL. Dismissal of an employee for a reason connected with their taking NCL will be automatically unfair.
What should employers do?
Employers will need to have a clear policy setting out the statutory right to leave and pay, as well as any enhanced rights. Employers should also consider:
Any enhancements to the statutory arrangements, such as enhanced NCL pay.
Employers have the option of waiving notice requirements, many employers may choose to do so in practice, particularly for employees who are not taking/have already taken other forms of leave.
Employers will need to add employees taking NCL of over 6 weeks to the groups of employees who will be entitled to priority status in the event of a redundancy. As the protection continues until the child turns 18 months, it will be important to consider tracking employees who take this type of leave in the same way as other types of parental leave.
Given the complexities of this new right, this may be a good opportunity for employers to offer refresher family leave training for HR staff and managers.
For more information on neonatal leave please get in touch, but if you have any employees who are due to start maternity, adoption or paternity leave after 6th April 2025, you need to be aware of this new legislation.
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