Statutory neonatal care pay and leave

Part of the Employment Rights Bill, neonatal care leave and pay will come into enforcement from April 6th (2025). Under The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023, parents will receive a maximum of 12 weeks leave and pay when their baby undergoes neonatal care. This is in addition to existing parental leave entitlements (maternity, paternity shared parental leave etc). 

Employers will need to ensure that their documentation, contracts and policies are up to date or risk facing a costly legal claim.

Talk to Croner today to learn more about the Employment Rights Bill and act now to ensure compliance with the latest employment law legislation.

Call our award-winning HR and employment law team on 0808 501 6651. 

What is the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023?

The Act. sets out to aid parents of newborn babies requiring neonatal care, giving them additional rights to leave, instead of having to rely on statutory maternity and paternity leave. 

The lack of provisions for parents in this situation means that the time used during their statutory leave is often spent in hospitals and medical centres, when it is designed to allow parents to adjust to family life and form bonds with their child. 

How much is statutory neonatal care pay?

Statutory Neonatal Care Pay requires the recipient to have average earnings of £123 a week and mirrors the financial entitlement to maternity and shared parental leave. If an employee takes a period of 6 consecutive weeks Neonatal Care Leave (NCL) they are also entitled to extended redundancy protections. 

This entitlement applies, if the employee does not qualify via maternity adoption or paternity leave. The employee will also be entitled to the right to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy, from the 6th consecutive week’s leave, ending once the child turns 18 months old. 

Who is eligible under the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act?

Under the Employment Rights Bill, neonatal care leave can be taken by employees as long as they fall under the following at the birth of the child:

• They are the child’s biological parents
• They are the child’s intended parents via surrogacy
• The mother’s partner (provided they are living with them in an enduring family relationship, and unrelated) under the expectation that they will be responsible for raising the child.

If going through the adoption process, similar principles apply.

To qualify for NCL, employees must have or be expecting a baby born on or after the 6th of April 2025 and the leave must be taken to provide care for the baby.

In terms of an employee’s eligibility for Neonatal Care Pay they must be:

• Continuously employed by your business for at least 26 consecutive weeks with the final week ending within the relevant (15th) week before the due date.
• Have an average weekly gross earning being equal to the lower earnings limit for NI purposes.
• Employee earnings will be averaged over an 8-week period, including the last pay day before the relevant week. 

What constitutes neonatal care?

Neonatal care can be defined under three categories of medical care. These are:

•  Any care received in a hospital.
• Medical care received elsewhere following discharge from hospital. This care must be under direction of a consultant, which can include ongoing monitoring/visits to the child by a child healthcare professional. 
• Palliative or end of life care.

 This must have begun in the first 28 days of the baby’s life and be continuous for a period of at least 7 days, beginning the day after the child’s birth.

What is the notice for Neonatal Care Leave?

NCL must be taken within 68 weeks of the baby’s birth (or placement or entry to Great Britain in the event of adoption). This corresponds to the ideal usage of NCL which will be added onto the tail end of the employee’s family leave, as the employee is likely to be on some variant of this at the time. NCL would then likely be used at the end of this period so that any time their child spends in neonatal care is covered under the leave.  

The notice requirements for NCL require employees to state:

• Their name.
• The date of birth of the child (date of placement etc. if adopting).
• Start dates of neonatal care
• End date of neonatal care if applicable
• Date of which the leave is wanted to be taken by the employee
• Number of weeks the notice is being given for
• That the leave is being used for care of the baby
• A declaration that the employee meets the eligibility requirements. .

There are two tiers of neonatal care leave, the first, tier one can be taken in a non-continuous block (minimum of one week at a time) whereas tier two must be taken in one continuous block. This is in an effort to provide flexibility in order to cater to emergency situations that may arise whilst the baby is still in hospital. 

In the unfortunate and very sad circumstances your employee experiences the loss of the baby; after accruing the leave, they are still entitled to take it.  

Employees who qualify for the leave will be protected in the same way as with other kinds of family friendly leave from suffering a detriment arising from requesting or taking this leave.  Whilst on the leave they have the right to their usual contractual entitlements under the same terms and conditions of employment, except pay.  

What do employers need to do to ensure compliance with the neonatal leave and pay act?

For a comprehensive explanation of how employers should ensure compliance with the new legislation, Contact the employment law advisory team at Croner.

Call us today on 0808 501 6651.