The new right to neonatal care leave and pay
On 6 April 2025, new legislation is coming into force that introduces a new statutory day-one right to neonatal care leave (NCL) and pay for eligible employees whose baby requires neonatal care.
Around one in seven babies born in the UK is admitted to a neonatal unit each year. Currently, parents of babies in neonatal care must use their maternity or paternity leave, rely on employer discretion or face returning to work while their newborns are still being treated in hospital. The new legislation means that instead of employees using up their maternity or paternity leave while their child is in hospital, they may also be entitled to take NCL. This leave must be taken within 68 weeks of the baby’s birth.
Neonatal care leave
To qualify, the baby must be born on or after 6 April 2025 and receive neonatal care for at least seven consecutive days within the first 28 days of life. Neonatal care covers medical care both in hospital and received elsewhere if it follows a period in hospital, and involves ongoing monitoring from healthcare professionals, as well as palliative and end-of-life care. Those individuals who are eligible to take NCL are the baby’s parents, the mother’s partner and adoptive parents.
From day one of employment, employees may take one week of NCL for each uninterrupted week during which their child receives neonatal care, up to a maximum of 12 weeks. NCL is split into tier 1 and tier 2 periods. A tier 1 period is the period that lasts from the start of the child receiving neonatal care until seven days after the neonatal care ends. A tier 2 period is any period thereafter, up to 68 weeks after the child’s birth. During a tier 1 period, an employee may take non-consecutive blocks of one week’s NCL. They must take any remaining NCL in a continuous block in the tier 2 period.
Employment protections
The legislation includes similar protections for those taking NCL to those enjoyed by employees returning from other forms of family leave. This includes:
- entitlement to the benefit of all terms and conditions of their employment, apart from pay;
- the right to return to the role they had before they took NCL or another suitable role if it is not reasonably practicable to return to the same job;
- some protection from redundancy for those who have taken a period of six weeks’ NCL (in the form of entitlement to a suitable alternative vacancy, where one exists), during the NCL and for up to 18 months after the child’s birth;
- protection against detriment for exercising a right to take NCL; and
- protection against unfair dismissal if the reason or principal reason for dismissal is linked to the employee taking NCL.
Statutory neonatal care pay
There are several conditions an employee must meet to qualify for statutory neonatal care pay (SNCP). Amongst other things, they must have 26 weeks’ continuous service by the relevant week. Employers must pay SNCP at the same rate as statutory paternity pay or statutory shared parental pay. From 6 April, this will be £187.18 or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, if lower.
The definition of employee here includes some workers who would not usually be considered employees. They may qualify for SNCP (even if they do not qualify for NCL itself) as long as they give the required notice and do not work while claiming SNCP.
Notice requirements
Employees must give notice to take NCL. In this notice, they must confirm certain information (such as the baby’s date of birth, the start and end dates of neonatal care, requested duration of leave, confirmation of eligibility and their intention to take the leave to care for the baby). The length of the notice period differs depending on when the leave is taken. For tier 1 leave, the notice must be given before the first day of absence or as soon as reasonably practicable. Tier 2 leave requires a longer notice, with 15 days’ notice being required for a single week of leave and 28 days’ notice being required for two or more consecutive weeks. Tier 2 notice must also be in writing. The notice requirements are slightly different for claiming SNCP.
Employers can agree to waive the notice requirements both for NCL and SNCP.
How can employers prepare for the upcoming changes?
- Review and update parental leave policies prior to 6 April to reflect the new entitlements. In the policy, we recommend clearly outlining the process that employees should use when requesting this leave.
- Make employees aware of any changes to policies and inform them of the new rights.
- HR teams should familiarise themselves with the eligibility criteria and the notice requirements.
- It may also be beneficial to provide training for managers to ensure they understand how to support staff applying for NCL.
- You may wish to consider enhancing the statutory minimum requirements on a discretionary basis, such as by paying more than SNCP for a specified period.
If you would like assistance with reviewing your policies, please get in touch with your usual Dentons contact.
