New Law: Parents to receive day one right to neonatal care leave and pay
Thousands of working families with babies in neonatal care will be entitled to additional time off as a day one right. The government expects the new rights to benefit around 60,000 new parents, so let us help you understand this new law which came into force earlier this month.
The aim of this new right is to allow parents dedicated time to spend with their baby while they are receiving medical care, without this time off eating into their maternity, paternity or shared parental leave.
Do also get in touch if you need help with your new handbook policy or for a form for your employees to complete to help them capture the information you may need.
When does this come into force?
On 6 April 2025 the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 (“the Act”) came into force, entitling eligible employees with babies who have received or are in receipt of neonatal care to additional time off. So this applies to babies who were born on or after 6 April 2025 only.
Who is eligible?
The Act introduces a day one day right for employees to take neonatal care leave where their baby who is 28 days old or less needs neonatal care for 7 days or more. The right to neonatal care leave will be in addition to other statutory parental leave, including, maternity, adoption, paternity and shared parental leave. So this applies to your working mums, dads and those with caring responsibilities.
Neonatal care leave applies where the newborn baby is admitted into neonatal care up to 28 days old and who have a continuous stay in hospital for 7 full days or longer.
To be eligible for the leave, at the birth of the baby, the employee must be one of the following:
- The baby’s parents (including adoptive).
- The baby’s intended parent (in a surrogacy situation).
- Partner to the baby’s mother (who is unrelated but living with them and in a family relationship) with the view that they will have responsibility for raising the child.
Neonatal care leave must be taken to provide care for the baby. In the very sad situation where the baby dies after a period of neonatal care leave has been accrued, employees are still able to take the leave as the care element is not needed.
So,what counts as “neonatal care”?
Neonatal care is defined as specialist medical care provided to newborn babies who require additional support or treatment in a neonatal unit or neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). It can also be summarised into three narrow categories of medical care which amount to neonatal care:
- Any medical care received while the child was an inpatient in a hospital
- Any medical care received elsewhere following discharge from hospital. However, this care must be under the direction of a consultant and includes ongoing monitoring and visits to the child by a health care professional
- Palliative or end of life care.
How long is this leave?
Eligible parents will be able to take one week of leave for each week the baby receives neonatal care without interruption. The week begins the day after the care started, meaning a baby will have to have been receiving neonatal care for 8 consecutive days before the baby’s parents are entitled to one week of neonatal care leave. The amount of leave is capped at 12 weeks.
When can neonatal care leave be taken?
The leave must be taken within 68 weeks of the baby’s birth, placement (in an adoption situation) or entry into Great Britain (following an overseas adoption).
It is expected that at the time the baby is born the parents will be on some other form of statutory parental leave, typically, maternity or paternity leave.
Neonatal care leave does not have to be taken at the time the baby is in hospital receiving neonatal care, so it can be tagged onto the end of the employee’s other planned parental leave.
Neonatal care leave also caters for emergency situations where the employee will no longer be on parental leave. For example, where an employee’s paternity leave has run out.
What notice requirements are there?
Similar to other types of parental leave, employees will need to provide certain information and notice of their intention to take neonatal care leave.
While the required length of notice differs depending on when the leave is taken, employers and employees can agree to waive any notice requirements as it is understood that these situations will sometimes arise where notice is not able to be given.
What happens with pay?
Employees who take neonatal care leave are entitled to be paid for their time off. However, to be eligible for statutory neonatal care pay an employee is required to have been employed for 26 weeks and have on average earnings of at least £123 a week.
Eligible employees will be entitled to statutory neonatal care leave (currently £187.18 per week or 90% of their pay, whichever is the lower) in line with other statutory rates.
While the legal obligation on an employer is to pay the statutory amount, there is scope to enhance this, particularly where enhanced maternity, paternity or shared parental pay is paid. Do get in touch if you wish to consider this further.
Practical considerations
With this being a new type of statutory parental leave, there are several practical considerations for employers, which we have set out below:
Absence management: Employers should be mindful in the situation where either the mother has experienced a difficult birth and/or the parents have had to face and deal with the emotional challenges of having their baby receive neonatal care. It may be that other issues materialise for those parents such as physical or mental health illness issues. As such, employers should be sympathetic and deal with any resulting absences sensitively while also being mindful of any potential discrimination risks.
Policies: A clear policy setting out the employee’s statutory right to leave and pay (including any enhanced rights if applicable) should be included within the staff handbook and ensure that upon updating the staff handbook this is circulated to all employees to ensure they are aware of their rights.
Redundancy: If an employee is taking or has taken neonatal care leave for a period of 6 weeks or more, then they are entitled to priority status in the event there is a redundancy situation, this is the same as other types of statutory parental leave. As such, and as the protection continues up until the baby turns 18 months old, employers should consider keeping a record of employees who have taken neonatal care leave in case a redundancy situation arises to avoid any potential claims.
Timing: As mentioned above, an employee is going to likely choose to take their neonatal care leave at the end of their other type of statutory parental leave. The underlying intention of the Act is to allow employees to extend their overall period of leave.
How we can help
As a team, we can assist you in reviewing and drafting any neo-natal care polices to ensure legal compliance. As a reminder, we also offer free contract and handbook review. Please do get in touch if you have any questions or require assistance with producing a neo-natal care leave policy.
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