There will be a new right from 6^th April 2025 to Neonatal Care Leave and Pay – in England, Wales and Scotland.

This will be a new statutory right for employees to take paid leave from work if their child needs neonatal care after 6^th April 2025.

What is neonatal care?

1. Medical care received by the baby in a hospital setting (which includes a maternity home, clinics and outpatient departments).
2. Medical care received elsewhere following discharge from hospital (as long as the care is under the direction of a consultant and includes ongoing monitoring by / visits from healthcare professionals; i.e. the care could be provided at home).
3. Palliative or end of life care.

For the parents to gain this right to Neonatal Care Leave and Pay their baby must have received Neonatal care within the first 28 days of birth and the care must continue for at least 7 consecutive days. (Parents whose babies are admitted to hospital after the first 28 days of their life are not covered by this new right).

Why is this new law needed?

There were concerns that current statutory leave and pay entitlements (for maternity leave etc.) do not adequately support parents whose baby is born sick or prematurely and then needs neonatal care. The government estimates that around 60,000 parents will be eligible for this new leave.

The new rights are intended to allow parents to spend time with their baby when it is receiving medical care, without that eating into their other leave entitlements (maternity, paternity or shared parental leave).

The law is called the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023, and the government has published two sets of Regulations which set out details on how the new leave and pay entitlements will work in practice.

The Government is expected to publish guidance on the new rights (on gov.uk) before the law comes into force on 6^th April 2025.  Acas are also expected to publish guidance for employers soon.

Who can take this new Care Leave?

• Parents of children born on or after 6 April 2025 who need neonatal care within the first 28 days of the baby’s life will be eligible to take this leave to care for the child (‘Parents’ means - birth parents, both are eligible for the leave and pay; intended parents in a surrogacy situation; the partner of the child’s mother, where they live with them; the child’s adopter or prospective adopter, or partner of the adopter)
• If the baby dies after an employee has accrued the right to NCL, employees will still be able to take the leave and pay (and similarly, if adoption is disrupted)
• It will be a “Day One” right, i.e. it is available from the first day of employment.

This new leave (abbreviated to NCL) will be in addition to any other statutory leave that parents are entitled to, e.g. maternity leave, adoption leave, paternity leave, etc.

How much leave can be taken?

• Eligible employees can take one week’s leave for each week that the baby receives neonatal care without interruption.
• The maximum leave that can be taken is 12 weeks.
• Neonatal leave cannot be claimed twice where more than one baby is receiving care at the same time (i.e. in the event of twins or multiple births - for example, if both twins receive neonatal care for a period of 6 weeks, the parents would only be entitled to 6 weeks of leave).

When can NCL be taken?

NCL can be taken while the child is still receiving neonatal care, or taken later, by adding it onto the end of other leave the employee is entitled to, e.g. maternity and paternity leave.

However, it must be taken within 68 weeks of the baby’s birth (or placement/entry into Great Britain for adoption cases).

The new law distinguishes between leave that is taken while a child is in neonatal care and in the week after they are discharged (called the “Tier 1 period”), and leave that is taken at any other time during the 68-week period (called the “Tier 2 period”).

Leave taking during the Tier 1 period (i.e. when the child is first admitted to neonatal care) cannot start before the second week of neonatal care. This Leave can be taken in consecutive or non-consecutive blocks of one week at a time.

An employee can choose not to take all the leave they are entitled to in Tier 1, but take this in a Tier 2 period. All Leave taken in the Tier 2 period must be taken in one continuous block.

Employees will be required to give written notice to take NCL. They need to tell their employer:

The notice periods will differ depending on whether the leave is taken during the Tier 1 or Tier 2 period.

• For leave taken during the Tier 1 period, the employee will need to notify their employer before they are due to start work on the first day of absence, or as soon as reasonably practicable thereafter. The notice does not have to be in writing.
• For leave taken during the Tier 2 period, the employee will need to provide notice at least 15 days before the start of a period of one week’s leave. For a period of two or more weeks’ Care leave, the employee will need to provide notice at least 28 days before the start of the leave. Notice must be in writing.
• However, the Regulations state that the employer and employee can mutually agree to waive the requirements to give notice to take the leave.

Parents will not be required to provide proof that their child is receiving neonatal care.  They will, however, need to tell their employer:

• Their (the employee’s) name
• The baby’s date of birth (or date of placement/entry to Great Britain if adopting)
• The start date of neonatal care
• The date neonatal care ended (if applicable)
• The date on which the employee wants to take the leave
• The number of weeks of NCL they are taking
• That the leave is being taken to care of their baby
• If the end date of neonatal care is not known, they must give this information as soon as it is reasonably practicable to provide this.

What about Neonatal Care Pay? (called Statutory Neonatal Care Pay – SNCP)

An employee must have at least 26 weeks’ continuous employment with their employer, and be earning above the minimum earnings threshold (which will be £125 per week from April 2025) to be eligible for Neonatal Care Pay (there is only a Day 1 right to Neonatal Care Leave, not Neonatal Care Pay).

The rate of neonatal care pay will be the same as the other statutory payments for maternity, paternity, adoption leave, etc. So, from 6 April, 2025 this will be £187.18 per week or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, if lower. Employers can of course enhance any such payments with occupational pay if they choose.

The maximum period for which an employee is entitled to neonatal care pay is 12 weeks.

Employees can choose that either SNCP is paid for a single week or for a number of weeks (although these must be consecutive in a ‘tier 2’ period).

Employees will be required to give written notice to take SNCP. They need to tell their employer:

• the period for which they are claiming,
• the date of the child’s birth,
• the date(s) neonatal care started and ended.

The notice provisions will differ depending on whether the pay is for leave taken during the Tier 1 or Tier 2 period.:

• where an employee requests statutory neonatal pay in the ‘tier 1’ period, they need to give their employers notice to take the pay within 28 days’ from the first date of leave where this is possible, or if not possible, as soon as reasonably practicable.
• Tier 1 notice does not need to be in writing.
• Where an employee requests statutory neonatal pay in the Tier 2 period, notice for one week’s leave must be given no later than 15 days before the first day of leave;
• For two or more consecutive statutory neonatal pay weeks in the Tier 2 period, at least 28 day’s notice must be given before the first day of leave. If it is not possible to give this much notice, notice must be given as soon as practicable.

What happens to the employee’s normal terms and conditions during Neonatal Care Leave and Pay?

An employee who takes neonatal care leave will remain entitled to the same terms and conditions of employment, except those relating to wages and salary. That means that their holiday entitlement will continue to accrue, pension rights continue, and everything else remains the same.

Employees taking statutory neonatal care leave will also be entitled to:

• The right to return to the same job after a period of neonatal care leave (or a combined period of neonatal and other forms of qualifying family-related statutory leave, e.g. maternity leave) if they are absent from work for a total period of 26 weeks or less;
• An employee who returns to work after a longer period of absence is entitled to return to the job in which they were employed before the absence, or if this is not reasonably practicable, to another job that is both suitable and appropriate for the employee to do in the circumstances;
• Protection from redundancy both during the leave and for a period after taking the leave (see below);
• Protection from detriment, and
• If an employee is dismissed for a reason connected with their taking NCL (or wanting to take NCL) this will be automatically unfair.

Employees who have taken 6 continuous weeks of NCL also benefit from the extended redundancy protection rights introduced in 2024, which means they have the right to be offered a suitable alternative job where this is vacant, if their position is redundant, from the day after the employee has taken six consecutive weeks of leave and ending on the day after the child turns 18 months old.

However, this protection will not apply where the employee already has similar protection under the same provisions for maternity or adoption leave. So, for example, women who take maternity leave as well as neonatal care leave will not be entitled to the protection under this neonatal care provision because they already have the same protection under the maternity provisions. However, for example, a father who takes 6 weeks or more Care leave, would gain this protection, which he might not already have.

How should employers prepare for this new law?

Ensure your existing family leave policies are updated with the new rights (or introduce a new policy for this care leave and pay).  Providing template forms for employees to use to claim the leave/pay might be useful.

Consider if you are going to enhance the neonatal care statutory pay, whether in £ amounts or in the length of time it will be paid for (especially where employers enhance other family payments, e.g. maternity, parental leave).

Consider if you want to waive the notice requirements for both Tier 1 and Tier 2 leave to make things more simple for everyone.

Data Protection policies may need to be updated to make it clear that, e.g. details of the neonatal care/the baby’s medical conditions are subject to data protection laws so this information needs to be kept as private as possible in the circumstances (the employee’s wishes need to be taken into account if the reason for the absence is to be shared with managers/colleagues for example).

Redundancy policies and administration may need to be updated to reflect more staff who have a priority status in the event of redundancies.

Ensure your managers and staff know about this new right and understand how it interacts with other family leave policies – training may be needed (as it’s likely that employees may choose to take neonatal care pay at the end of maternity pay; i.e. employees may end their maternity leave at the end of maternity pay, at 39 weeks, then take 12 weeks Neonatal Care pay on top, for example. N.B. Maternity leave cannot be stopped and then re-started).

Consider how employees who take this leave may be affected, and how it manifests itself both physically and mentally in these employees.  If their performance or attendance at work is later affected, approach the management of this sensitively, otherwise there may be potential disability discrimination risks in your treatment of them.