Neonatal care leave and pay: new rights for employees from April 2025

According to a 2019 Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health report, approximately one out of every seven babies born in England, Scotland and Wales needs specialist neonatal care in hospital.

My daughter was one of them, so I have a particularly keen interest in the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023, which, subject to parliamentary approval of various regulations, will finally come into force from 6 April 2025.

In summary, the Act creates a statutory entitlement to neonatal care leave and neonatal care pay for eligible employees. This applies to babies born on or after 6 April 2025 who require neonatal care (medical or palliative) which starts within 28 days of the child's birth and continues for at least seven consecutive days.

Statutory neonatal care leave (SNCL)

Eligibility

SNCL will be a day one right for all employees who are parents (including adoptive parents and surrogate parents) of babies requiring neonatal care, as defined above. It will also apply to the parent’s partner, provided they live with the parent. The employee must also have or expect to have responsibility for the upbringing of the child and be taking the leave to care for the child. The lack of minimum service requirements is perhaps most significant for fathers or partners as currently statutory paternity leave and statutory parental leave are subject to minimum service requirements (although the Employment Rights Bill proposes to make these types of leave day one rights in due course).

How much leave, and when can it be taken?

Eligible employees will be able to take one week’s leave for every week the child spends in neonatal care, up to a maximum of 12 weeks. Leave must be taken before the end of 68 weeks beginning with the date of birth (or placement of the child) and must be to care for the child. The extended timeframe within which leave must be taken is to allow SNCL to be taken after other statutory family leave.

SNCL is categorised into two tiers. The Tier 1 period is leave that begins while an employee's child is receiving neonatal care, or within seven days of them ceasing to receive neonatal care. The Tier 2 period is leave that begins more than seven days after the child has stopped receiving neonatal care. Leave taken in the Tier 1 period can be taken in non-consecutive blocks of a minimum of one week, whereas leave taken in the Tier 2 period must be taken in one continuous block. Notice requirements differ between the tiers, with minimal notice being required for the Tier 1 period.

Statutory neonatal care pay (SNCP)

Eligibility

Unlike SNCL, SNCP is not a day one right and mirrors the eligibility requirements for statutory maternity and paternity pay – with the employee needing at least 26 weeks' continuous service by the "relevant week", which in birth cases is the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth. The employee must also earn at least the statutory lower earnings limit (£125 per week for 2025/26).

Amount of pay

Again, the amount of SNCP mirrors other statutory family leave pay and eligible employees will be paid the lower of the statutory rate (£187.18 per week for 2025/26) or 90% of the employee's average weekly earnings.

Other rights

In addition to benefiting from SNCL and SNCP, eligible employees will also benefit from familiar protections afforded to those on other types of statutory family leave. These include being entitled to remain on their existing terms and conditions during the leave (except for pay), the right to return to the same or another suitable role, protection from detriment and protection from unfair dismissal.

Significantly, eligible employees on SNCP when a redundancy arises will have the right to be offered suitable alternative employment in priority over other employees. For eligible employees who have taken at least six consecutive weeks of SNCL, the priority right is extended to within 18 months of the child’s birth (or placement).

Next steps

The Government intends to publish online guidance on the new rights before 6 April 2025 and has also asked Acas to publish guidance for employers once the legislation is in force.

Ahead of April, employers should be either updating their existing policies or creating a new policy covering SNCL and SNCP. When looking at policies, employers should also consider whether they wish to offer any enhanced neonatal care pay or leave.

Employers should also train managers on the new entitlement, how to handle requests for SNCL and SNCP in a sensitive and supportive way, and how to support staff with children receiving neonatal care. Staff should also be informed of the new rights and the organisation’s policy.

This publication is a general summary of the law. It should not replace legal advice tailored to your specific circumstances.

© Farrer & Co LLP, February 2025