
Neonatal Care Leave and Pay – are you prepared for the impending changes?
Thursday 30th January 2025
On 20 January, the Government confirmed that neonatal leave and pay will be introduced from 6 April this year as a day one right, following the passing of the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act in 2023. This change in legislation is expected to benefit around 60,000 new parents whose babies need to stay in hospital after birth to receive medical care, who would otherwise have been expected to return to work.
What is changing?
Neonatal Care Leave (NCL) will apply to parents of babies who:
- are born on or after 6 April 2025;
- are admitted into neonatal care up to 28 days old; and
- have a continuous stay in hospital of 7 full days or longer.
This will allow eligible parents to take up to 12 weeks of leave within the first 68 weeks of the child’s birth or adoption in addition to any other leave they may be entitled to such as maternity or paternity leave.
Eligibility
To be eligible for NCL, the employee must be either:
- The child’s parent;
- The child’s intended parent (in a surrogacy scenario); or
- The partner to the child’s mother with the expectation that they will have responsibility for the child (for example, if they are unrelated to the child but are living with the child in a family situation)
Pay
Whilst NCL is a day one right for all eligible employees, the Statutory Neonatal Care Pay will only be available to employees who have at least 26 weeks’ service and average earnings of at least £123 a week. This mirrors the entitlement to maternity and shared parental leave pay.
Notice
As with other family-related leave, employees are expected to provide notice of their intention to start NCL, setting out: the baby’s date of birth/adoption, dates of NCL, when the leave is required, number of days required, details of who is taking care of the child, and the relationship with the child.
The required length of notice depends on when NCL is taken. There are some instances where this notice requirement can be waived as agreed between the employer and employee, for example where employees have already taken other forms of leave.
Impact on employers
Employers will need to ensure they have a clear policy in place to inform employees of their statutory rights, the relevant requirements and any relevant procedures that must be followed. The policy should also set out any enhanced rights the employer may wish to consider providing.
Comment
We recommend you have a clear Neonatal Care Leave Policy in place now to preempt this change coming in April.
Please contact a member of the Gordons Employment Team who will be happy to assist you with putting a policy together, or supporting with any queries you may have around these changes or any other family friendly rights.