The UK to implement neonatal care leave and pay entitlement [Updated]
The United Kingdom is introducing a statutory entitlement to neonatal care leave and pay for parents of babies born on or after 6 April 2025, who require neonatal care after birth.
Update: The UK government has confirmed that the new entitlements to neonatal care leave and pay set out in the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 will come into force on 6 April 2025. This article has been updated following the recent publication of draft regulations on the new entitlements. The draft regulations are pending parliamentary approval and may be subject to amendments.
Key details
Eligibility for Neonatal Care Leave
Parents of babies born on or after 6 April 2025 and who receive neonatal care within 28 days of birth and for at least seven or more continuous days will be entitled to Neonatal Care Leave.
Neonatal care is defined under the draft regulations as:
Medical care received in a hospital.
Medical care provided elsewhere after the child is discharged from inpatient hospital care. This care must be directed by a consultant and include continuous monitoring and visits from healthcare professionals arranged by the hospital.
Palliative or end of life care.
Neonatal Care Leave will be available from the first day of employment with no minimum qualifying service requirement. To qualify, an employee must be:
The child’s parent, intended parent (for surrogacies) or the partner of the child’s mother at the date of birth.
The child’s adopter or prospective adopter or the partner of the child’s adopter or prospective adopter at the date of placement.
The child’s overseas adopter or their partner at the date the child enters Great Britain.
The employee must also have or expect to have responsibility for the child’s upbringing and can only use Neonatal Care Leave to care for the child.
Neonatal Care Pay
Employees with at least 26 weeks’ continuous service and average earnings of not less than GBP 123 per week will be eligible for Statutory Neonatal Care Pay, to be paid by employers at the statutory weekly rate of GBP 187.18 or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. A percentage of statutory family leave pay can be reclaimed by employers (more details on reclaiming these payments may be found here (opens a new window)).
Employees who do not meet the abovementioned minimum service and minimum average earnings requirements will still be eligible for Neonatal Care Leave without pay.
Length of Neonatal Care Leave and notice requirements
Parents can take one week of leave for each week the child (or any one child from a multiple birth) receives uninterrupted neonatal care (up to a total of 12 weeks), beginning on the day after care starts. In the event of a multiple birth, the entitlement does not increase if the children from such multiple birth are receiving care at the same time but does accrue if care is received by the children at different times (subject to the maximum entitlement of 12 weeks).
Neonatal Care Leave will be a separate entitlement, and parents will retain full entitlement to other statutory leaves such as maternity and paternity leave. Eligible employees may extend their statutory parental leave by adding Neonatal Care Leave at the end. However, Neonatal Care Leave must be taken within 68 weeks starting from the child’s birth.
Whether Neonatal Care Leave may be taken in non-continuous or continuous blocks depends on whether it is taken during a tier 1 or tier 2 period.
Tier 1 period: This applies to the period during which the child is receiving neonatal care and ends on the seventh day following the end of neonatal care. Neonatal Care Leave taken during this period may be taken in non-continuous blocks of at least one week at a time. An employee must give notice before the start of each week of tier 1 leave or as soon as reasonably practicable, but there is no requirement for this notice to be in writing.
Tier 2 period: This applies to all other time during which an employee is eligible for Neonatal Care Leave. Tier 2 leave must be taken in one continuous block. An employee must provide 15 days’ written notice for a single week of tier 2 leave or 28 days’ written notice for two or more consecutive weeks of tier 2 leave.
Specific information must be set out in the notice, as described in the draft regulations here (opens a new window). The employer and employee may mutually agree to waive the requirement to give notice.
Protections
Parents taking Neonatal Care Leave remain entitled to the benefit of the same terms and conditions of employment except for wages or salary, and to the right to return to the same or another suitable role. They will be protected from unfair dismissal or detrimental treatment as a result of taking, or seeking to take, the leave, as well as redundancy during the leave. If an employee has taken six consecutive weeks of Neonatal Care Leave, they may be entitled to redundancy protection after the leave for an additional period of up to 18 months from the date of the child’s birth.
Employer action: ACT
Employers should note that as the draft regulations must still be approved by Parliament, they remain subject to any changes that may be made during the legislative process. The UK government is also expected to release guides on Neonatal Care Leave and Neonatal Care Pay before 6 April 2025, which will likely be available here (opens a new window). However, employers should start the process of preparing updates to their handbooks, policies and practices to include the new entitlements, including planning adjustments to payroll systems to include Neonatal Care Pay calculations.
Employers will want to minimally match the statutory provisions but should consider whether to enhance the statutory payments, especially to align with any enhancements offered for other types of parental leave.
Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 (opens a new window)
The Neonatal Care Leave and Miscellaneous Amendments Regulations 2025 (opens a new window)
