Neonatal care leave to be a statutory right from 6 April 2025

The government has recently confirmed that it intends to bring the new statutory neonatal care leave and pay rights into force on 6 April 2025. Draft regulations have now been published for parliamentary approval, setting out the detail of the new rights under the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023. We understand that the government also intends to publish website guides before 6 April and has asked Acas to publish guidance for employers once the legislation is in force.

The aim of the new right is to allow parents dedicated time to spend with their newborn while they are receiving medical care, without that eating into their maternity, paternity, adoption or shared parental leave. The hope is that this will provide some peace of mind to parents who find themselves in this difficult situation.

What are the leave entitlements?

Parents, or others with a personal relationship to the child, will be entitled to take up to 12 weeks of neonatal care leave (“NCL”) in addition to existing parental leave entitlements where their baby is receiving, or has received, neonatal care.

Who will be eligible?

In line with changes made to other forms of family leave in the Employment Rights Bill, employees will be able to benefit from NCL from ‘day one’ of their employment.

At the birth of the baby, the employee must be one of:

• The baby’s parents
• The baby’s intended parents – applicable to surrogacy
• Partner to the baby’s mother – who are unrelated and living with them in an enduring family relationship – with the expectation they will have responsibility for raising the child.

In cases of adoption, similar principles will apply.

To qualify for NCL, the baby must be born on or after 6 April 2025.

NCL must be taken to provide care for the baby. However, in the sad circumstances where the baby dies after NCL has been accrued, employees will still be able to take the leave as the care requirement will be disapplied.

What constitutes ‘neonatal care’?

Neonatal care must have taken place, or begun, within the first 28 days of birth and care must continue for a period of at least seven continuous days.

Neonatal care is defined as:

• Medical care in a hospital, including a maternity home, clinic or outpatient department
• Medical care in another place to which the child is moved on leaving hospital – provided the care is under the direction of a consultant and includes ongoing monitoring by and visits from healthcare professionals arranged by that hospital
• Palliative or end of life care.

When must the leave be taken?

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. As a result, there is a distinction between when the leave is taken, referred to as Tier 1 or Tier 2 periods.

• Tier 1 applies while the child is receiving neonatal care and for seven days after the care ends. Leave during this period must not be taken before the day after the first full week of neonatal care, meaning that the first week is not covered. Employees can take NCL in non-consecutive weeks during Tier 1.
• Tier 2 applies to any remaining entitlement and must be taken in a single consecutive block. The maximum leave entitlement remains 12 weeks, even in cases of multiple births where more than one child requires neonatal care.

The right to take NCL must be taken within 68 weeks of the child’s birth.

What are the notice requirements?

Employees must notify their employers if they intend to take NCL and the notice requirements differ between Tier 1 and Tier 2.

In line with other parental leave, employees are expected to provide the following information to their employer:

• The child’s date of birth
• The start and end date of neonatal care
• How much leave they want to take
• Confirmation that they are eligible for leave and are taking it to care for their child.

For Tier 1 leave, notice must be given before the first day of absence or as soon as reasonably practicable. For Tier 2 leave, 15 days’ notice is required for a single week of leave and 28 days’ notice for two or more consecutive weeks of leave.

However, schools should note that the employer and employee can agree to mutually waive any notice requirements.

What pay will the employee be entitled to?

From 6 April 2025, eligible employees will also be entitled to statutory neonatal care pay (“SNCP”) to provide financial support during their leave.

To qualify for SNCP, employees must have a parental relationship with the child mirroring the NCL eligibility, 26 weeks’ continuous service at the relevant date, and earnings not less than the lower earnings limit for national insurance contributions.

SNCP will be paid at the same rate as statutory paternity pay or statutory shared parental pay, or 90% of earnings, if lower.

SNCP is not payable if the employee is receiving statutory sick pay, is in legal custody, or has died.

What protection will be afforded to the employee whilst on NCL?

As with other family leave entitlements, employees will remain entitled to the same terms and conditions of employment, with the exception of pay. There are also similar rules around when an employee will be entitled to return to their original role, which will always be the case for a single period of NCL.

Employees who have taken six continuous weeks of NCL also benefit from the extended redundancy protection rights – if these do not already apply via maternity, adoption or paternity leave. They have the right to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy applying 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.

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.

Impact on schools

Schools should consider putting in place a Neonatal Care Leave and Pay Policy, covering the statutory rights as a minimum. They should also ensure that those responsible for HR and line managers are trained on the eligibility criteria, notice requirements, and employment protections to handle leave requests appropriately.

Schools need to be aware of the potential for an employee entitled to NCL to extend their period of paid leave for nearly a full year, albeit at statutory rates unless the school offers enhanced pay. This will be the case should an employee choose to transition from maternity leave to NCL at the end of the statutory or enhanced maternity pay period.