The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 introduces a new statutory entitlement from April 2025. It gives eligible parents the right to take up to 12 weeks of neonatal care leave if their baby is admitted to neonatal care within 28 days of birth.
Key Details
- Day-one right — employees qualify from their first day of employment (no qualifying period for leave)
- Duration — up to 12 weeks, taken in weekly blocks
- Additional to other leave — this is on top of maternity leave, paternity leave, and shared parental leave
- Trigger — the baby must be admitted to neonatal care for 7 or more continuous days
- Who qualifies — parents and intended parents (including through surrogacy and adoption)
Neonatal Care Pay
- Statutory neonatal care pay — available to employees with 26 weeks' continuous service and earnings above the lower earnings limit
- Paid at the statutory rate (same as other statutory family pay rates)
- Employees without 26 weeks' service are entitled to unpaid neonatal care leave
What Employers Must Do
- Update your parental leave policies and staff handbook to include neonatal care leave
- Train managers — ensure line managers understand the entitlement and handle requests sensitively
- Update payroll systems — to process statutory neonatal care pay
- Employment protection — employees are protected from detriment and dismissal for taking neonatal care leave
Important Protections
Like other forms of family leave, employees on neonatal care leave are protected from:
- Unfair dismissal related to taking the leave
- Detriment (e.g., being passed over for promotion)
- Their role must be available for them to return to
Our contracts and handbooks service can update your policies to include neonatal care leave. Get in touch.