New employee rights to neonatal care leave and pay from 6 April 2025

New day one rights to neonatal care leave and pay will come into force on 6 April 2025. Employees will get up to 12 weeks’ leave and pay when their baby needs neonatal care. We explain how the new rights will work and what it means for employers.

The new rights aim to allow parents time to spend with their baby whist they are receiving medical care, without using up their other statutory leave entitlements and giving them some peace of mind during a difficult time.

The government expects the new rights to benefit around 60,000 new parents of babies who need neonatal care. 

This legislation has been in the pipeline since the Conversative Party manifesto in 2019, promising to introduce legislation to provide for neonatal care leave. 

The new rights come into force on 6 April 2025.

What rights do employees have currently?

Currently, parents of newborn babies requiring neonatal care do not receive any additional time off or pay. Instead, they rely on other types of statutory family-related leave (including maternity and paternity leave), which are not intended to cover long hospital stays, to care for their baby. 

In some cases, parents may agree a period of leave at the discretion of their employer. In some circumstances, a parent may face having to return to work whilst their baby remains in hospital. 

What will parents be eligible for?

Statutory neonatal care leave (“NCL”) will be a day one right, meaning employees will benefit from it from their first day of employment. Parents of newborn babies in neonatal care will get up to 12 weeks’ extra leave, on top of any other leave they are entitled to. 

Statutory neonatal care pay (“SNCP”) will be available to eligible employees with 26 weeks’ continuous service at the relevant date and will be paid at the same rate as statutory maternity/paternity pay. 

The new entitlements will be subject to parents meeting the eligibility criteria. 

Who is eligible for neonatal care leave?

The rights will apply to parents of babies born on or after 6 April 2025, who require 7 (or more) days of continuous neonatal care in the first 28 days following their birth. We’ll come onto what counts as ‘neonatal care’ shortly.

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

• The baby’s parents
• The baby’s intended parents (under a surrogacy arrangement)
• The partner to the baby’s mother (who are unrelated and living together in an enduring family relationship with the expectation they will have responsibility for raising the child).

In adoption cases, similar rules apply. 

Neonatal care leave must be taken to provide care for the baby. Where a baby very sadly dies after the right to take the leave has accrued, the parents are are still able to take the accrued leave.

What is “neonatal care”?

Neonatal care is defined as:

• Medical care received in a hospital (including a maternity home, clinic or outpatient department)
• Medical care received anywhere else following discharge from hospital (such care must be under a consultant and includes ongoing monitoring and visits to the child by healthcare professionals), or
• Palliative or end of life care.

Neonatal care must have taken place or begun within the first 28 days of the birth (counting from the day after the baby is born). The care must continue for a period of at least 7 continuous days (beginning on the day after neonatal care starts).

This means some parents will not benefit from the new rights, for example where medical issues are only discovered after the first four weeks of the baby’s life.

How much leave are they entitled to?

The length of NCL will depend on how long the baby receives neonatal care. Parents will be able to take one week of leave in respect of each week their baby receives neonatal care without interruption, beginning on the day after the care started, up to a maximum of 12 weeks. 

There is no additional leave entitlement in the case of twins or other multiple births for babies who are receiving care at the same time. So, if twins were to receive neonatal care for four weeks, the parents would only be eligible to take four weeks’ neonatal care leave. The maximum amount of leave is still 12 weeks. 

When is the leave taken?

Neonatal care leave must be taken within the first 68 weeks of the baby’s birth. In adoption cases, the leave must be taken within 68 weeks of the placement or entry in Great Britain. 

In many cases, neonatal leave would be added onto the end of another type of family leave, such as maternity leave. 

The reason for this is that it is highly likely that at the time when the baby is receiving neonatal care, the employee will be on another type of family leave, usually maternity, adoption or paternity leave. They would then take their neonatal leave at the end of that family leave, as a way of compensating them for the time their baby was in neonatal care.

Leave taken in this way is referred to in the legislation as a ‘Tier 2’ period of leave and must be taken in one continuous block of leave.

Where the employee isn’t on some other family leave whilst the baby is receiving neonatal care, the employee can still take neonatal leave – this is called a ‘Tier 1’ period of leave. This is most likely to be where a father or partner’s paternity leave has run out while the baby is still in hospital receiving neonatal care.  

Tier 1 leave is classed as leave taken whilst the baby is receiving care, and up to a week post discharge. It can be taken in non-continuous blocks of a minimum of one week at a time.

How do employees inform their employer that they want to take neonatal leave?

Employees are required to give their employer notice of their intention to take neonatal leave, and provide certain information including:

• Their name
• The baby’s date of birth (or date of placement/entry to Great Britain if adopting)
• The start date or dates of neonatal care
• The date neonatal care ended (where applicable)
• The date on which the employee wants to take the leave 
• The number of weeks of NCL the notice is being given for 
• A statement that the leave is being taken to care for the baby 
• Confirmation that they are to take the leave due to their relationship with the baby.
• For Tier 1 leave, the notice must be given before the first day of absence or as soon as reasonably practicable and there is no requirement for notice to be in writing. 

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, and notice must be given in writing.  

Employers and employees can agree to waive the notice requirements.

How much neonatal care pay will employees get?

An employee is only entitled to receive SNCP if they have 26 weeks continuous service and earning on average of at least £123 per week. 

Broadly speaking, an employee who meets the requirements to qualify for statutory maternity, adoption or paternity pay will also qualify for neonatal care pay.

An employee is entitled to a week's neonatal care pay from their employer for every period of seven days that the child is in receipt of neonatal care without interruption, provided that all eligibility and notice requirements are met. 

The maximum number of weeks' SNCP is 12 weeks. This ties in with the employee's neonatal care leave entitlement, so an eligible employee will be entitled to neonatal care pay for each week of leave they take.

Statutory neonatal care pay is paid at the same rate as other statutory family leave payments such as statutory paternity pay. 

What rights and protections do employees on neonatal care leave have?

As is usual for family leave entitlements, employees taking statutory neonatal care leave will be entitled to their same terms and conditions of employment during their leave, except pay.  

There are also similar rules around when an employee will be entitled to return to their original role as for other types of family leave. 

Employees who have taken 6 continuous weeks of neonatal care leave also benefit from extended redundancy protection rights (to the extent they don’t already qualify for them as a result of taking another type of family leave eg maternity leave). They will have the right to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy applying from the day after the employee has taken the 6 consecutive weeks of leave, ending on the day the child turns 18 months old.

Employees will also be protected from detriment and dismissal for exercising their right to take neonatal care leave. Where an employee is dismissed for a reason connected with having taken neonatal care leave, their dismissal will be automatically unfair.

Key points for employers to be aware of

Whilst the aim of the new rights is to build in flexibility as to when employees can take the leave, the fact there is to be two categories of leave (Tier 1 and Tier 2) and different notice requirements for each makes the scheme more complex. Employers may choose to waive notice requirements in practice as a way around this.

It is likely that most employees will take NCL at the end of their other family leave entitlement. Whilst the underlying intention is to extend the overall period of leave that can be taken, some employees may choose instead to end their maternity leave once statutory maternity pay ends at 39 weeks and then move onto neonatal care leave and pay for 12 weeks. This would mean they would benefit from almost a whole year of paid leave. 

Key steps for employers to take to get prepared

Key steps to take to get ready the new rights coming into effect are:

• Consider training HR on the new rights due to the complexities of how they work
• Decide whether to waive the complex notice requirements to simplify the process. Alternatively, employers may wish to have a template form for employees to complete to meet the notice requirements
• Consider putting in place a policy explaining the new rights to employees, as well as any enhancements the employer may wish to offer on a discretionary basis
• Ensure employees on statutory neonatal care leave are offered a suitable alternative vacancy in the event of a redundancy. In the case of employees taking at least 6 consecutive weeks of neonatal care, this right continues until their child turns 18 months old.

The Government intends to publish guidance before the new legislation comes into force on 6 April 2025.