Neonatal leave and pay

Eligible employed parents whose new-born baby is admitted to neonatal care will, from 6 April 2025, be able to take 12 weeks of paid leave, in addition to their other leave entitlements such as maternity and paternity leave.

Background

In July 2019 the then government published a consultation, Proposals to Support Families, a part of which canvassed the idea of introducing neonatal leave and pay. The 2020 Budget saw confirmation that this would go ahead.

It was thought that this new entitlement would be included in an Employment Bill. However, the government instead decided to support a Private Members’ Bill. This Bill received the Royal Assent on 24 May 2023 to become the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023.

The Act inserts new s. 80EF-80EI into the Employment Rights Act 1996 covering the leave aspects of the new right and amends social security legislation to deal with the pay aspects. The new sections are fleshed out in further regulations (currently in draft form):

Eligibility for leave and pay

Only employees will be entitled to neonatal leave and pay.

To qualify for leave, an employee must be:

  • the child’s parent, intended parent (under a surrogacy arrangement), or the partner of the child’s mother at the time of birth, or
  • the child’s adopter or prospective adopter (or their partner), including cases of international adoption

Additionally, the employee must have or expect to have responsibility for the child’s upbringing and must take the leave to care for the child.

Although the right to leave is a Day 1 right, the right to paid leave requires 26 weeks of service and the employee must earn above the lower earnings limit.

Neonatal care

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), and palliative or end-of-life care.

Neonatal leave

The duration of leave depends on the length of time the baby needs neonatal care although it is capped at 12 weeks.

Parents can take one week of neonatal leave for each week the baby receives uninterrupted neonatal care, starting the day after the care begins.

For parents of twins or other multiple births, neonatal leave cannot be claimed in respect of babies who are receiving care at the same time.

An employee must take neonatal leave within 68 weeks of the baby’s birth or placement. In most cases, it will be added to the end of their family-related leave, such as maternity or paternity leave, to compensate for the time the baby spent in hospital (or otherwise).

There are slightly different rules that apply which depend on when a parent takes neonatal leave. These are known as Tier 1 and Tier 2:

  • Tier 1: If leave is taken while the baby is receiving care (and up to a week post-discharge), it is classified as a Tier 1 period. An employee can take Tier 1 leave in non-continuous blocks of at least one week at a time.
  • Tier 2: All other neonatal leave falls within the Tier 2 period and must be taken in one continuous block.

Notice

Employees must give notice of taking neonatal leave and/or pay, confirming certain information (the child’s date of birth, the start and end date of neonatal care, how much leave they want to take and confirmation that they are eligible for leave and are taking it to care for their child).

For Tier 1 leave the 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.

The employer and employee can agree to waive the notice requirements.

Employment protections

Employees will have the same protections as those associated with other forms of family-related leave:

  • protection from dismissal or detriment because of taking, or seeking to take, neonatal leave - dismissal in such circumstances will be automatically unfair
  • rules on the right to return to work, and
  • employees who have taken 6 continuous weeks of neonatal leave also benefit from the extended redundancy protection rights (if these do not already apply via maternity, adoption or paternity leave), with the right to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy applying from the day after the employee has taken 6 consecutive weeks of leave and ending on the day after the child turns 18 months old