Neonatal Leave and Pay

Please note that this information only applies to babies born on or after 6th April 2025

The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act is intended to support parents of babies who are admitted into neonatal care within 28 days of birth for a continuous period of 7 days or longer. Employees will be able to take up to 12 weeks of leave in addition to their other family leave entitlements such as maternity and paternity leave. The leave must be taken withing 68 weeks of your babies birth. Neonatal Care Leave is a day-one right.

In addition, eligible employed parents will be able to claim up to 12 weeks of Neonatal Care pay if they have at least 26 weeks of continuous service with their employer and they meet the minimum earnings threshold (see below for detailed eligibility requirements).

The Act came into force on 6th April 2025.

Jane van Zyl, CEO of Working Families said, “Working Families is delighted to support the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill. We have worked alongside Stuart McDonald MP and Bliss on this much-needed legislation, which will provide additional leave and pay for employees caring for infants receiving neonatal care.”

What qualifies as Neonatal Care?

The Act sets out three categories of medical care which will count as neonatal care, these are:

• Any medical care received in hospital
• Medical care received elsewhere (such as home) following discharge from an inpatient stay hospital. The care must be under the direction of a consultant and includes ongoing monitoring and visits to the child by healthcare professionals arranged by the hospital from which the baby was an inpatient; or
• Palliative or end of life care.

Unfortunately, any medical care which does not fall within the definition above will not qualify, nor will any medical care which does not begin within the first 28 days of the baby’s birth.

Eligibility for Neonatal Care Leave (NCL)

Neonatal Leave is a day-one right.

In order to qualify for Neonatal leave (NCL) the following conditions must be met:

• You must be an employee
• The baby must be born on or after 6th April 2025
• At the birth of the baby, you must be the baby’s parents, intended parents (in relation to surrogacy) or partner (see definition below) to the baby’s mother and you must have or expect to have responsibility for raising the child (similar rules apply in relation to adoption).
• The newborn must be admitted to neonatal care within the first 28 days of birth and must remain in neonatal care for at least 7 continuous days. However, the first period of 7 days begins with the day after the day your baby first receives neonatal care which effectively means that the newborn must spend 8 days in neonatal care before you will become entitled to leave.
• Neonatal care leave must be taken to provide care for the baby
• Neonatal care leave must be taken in blocks of a week.

Partner is defined as a person who lives with the baby’s mother or adopter and is in an enduring family relationship with them but is not a relative (parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew.

Eligibility for Neonatal Care Pay (NCP)

In order to qualify for Neonatal Care Pay (NCP), the following additional conditions must be met:

• You must have been employed by your employer for a continuous period of at least 26 weeks ending with the relevant week (which is the 15th week before the week in which the baby is due (approximately the 25th week of pregnancy). For babies born before the relevant week, please see the Q& A below.
• Your average gross weekly earnings must be at least equal to the lower earnings limit for National Insurance (NI) purposes. In April 2025-26, this is £125 per week and in April 2026-27, it is £129 per week.
• As a general rule, your earnings will be averaged over a period of at least 8 weeks up to and including the last pay day before the end of the relevant week. This period is called the ‘relevant period’.

These conditions are the same as the conditions for Maternity and Shared Parental Pay.

Neonatal Care Pay is paid at a flat rate per week (see here for current rates) or 90% of average weekly earnings, if this is less. Neonatal Care Pay may be paid for a maximum of 12 weeks and is payable within the first 68 weeks of the child’s birth.

How much leave can you take and when can the leave be taken?

Please note that this information only applies to babies born on or after 6th April 2025

Parents can take one week’s Neonatal Care Leave in respect of each uninterrupted week (7 days) that their baby receives neonatal care. The maximum amount of leave is 12 weeks. The first qualifying period of 7 days begins with the day after the day your baby first receives neonatal care (i.e, days 2-8 of neonatal care). Neonatal care Leave can be taken from the day after the first qualifying period. This means that you are not able to start neonatal leave until day nine.

Leave must be taken within the first 68 weeks of the baby’s birth (or placement in the case of adoption). As many people will already be on some form of family leave while their baby is in neonatal care, neonatal leave will often be taken after neonatal care has ended and at the end of maternity/shared parental or adoption leave.

However, there will be instances where individuals will take neonatal leave while their baby is still receiving neonatal care, for example partners whose paternity leave entitlement has run out while their baby is still receiving care.

There are two categories of neonatal leave depending on when the leave is taken, and these are referred to as Tier 1 or Tier 2 periods.

Tier 1 period leave applies to leave taken while your baby is still receiving care and up to a week after neonatal care ends. Tier 1 leave can be taken in non-continuous blocks of a minimum of one week at a time. The Tier 1 period leave ends on the 7th day after the day your baby stops receiving neonatal care.

Tier 2 period leave applies to leave taken more than 7 days after the neonatal care has ended and must be taken in one continuous block, there is no option to take more than one period of Neonatal Care Leave in the tier 2 period.

How much notice is required to take Neonatal Care Leave

The required length of notice differs depending on when the leave is taken.

For each week of Tier 1 period leave (leave to be taken while your baby is still receiving care or within 7 days of neonatal care ending), notice must be given before you are due to start work on your first day of absence in that week unless it is not reasonably practicable in which case you must give as much notice as soon as it is reasonably practicable.

In practice Tier 1 period leave is only likely to be taken by a father or the mother’s partner, as the mother will more than likely already be on Maternity leave during the Tier 1 period. If you are already on paternity leave when you wish to take Tier 1 period leave, you would have to notify your employer before the time you are due to start work after paternity leave.

Notice during Tier 1 period leave does not need to be in writing although notice to receive Neonatal Care Pay for the same period will need to be in writing.

Tier 2 period leave
For a single week of Tier 2 period leave, notice must be given no later than 15 days before the first day the of the neonatal leave.

For two or more consecutive weeks of Tier 2 Leave, notice must be given no later than 28 days before the first day of the neonatal care leave to which the notice relates. The leave can only be taken in a single block.

Notice during Tier 2 period leave must be given in writing

However, you can agree with your employer to waive any notice requirements.

How much notice is required for Neonatal Care Pay?

The required length of notice differs depending on the period the pay relates to.

For each week of statutory pay beginning in Tier 1 period, notice must be given within 28 days from the first day of the period the notice relates to unless it is not possible to give this much notice, in which case notice must be given as soon as reasonably practicable.

For a single week of statutory pay beginning in the Tier 2 period, notice must be given no later than 15 days before the first day of the pay week which the notice relates to. This is the same as the corresponding notice requirements for Neonatal Care Leave.

For two or more consecutive statutory pay weeks beginning in the Tier 2 period, notice must be given no less than 28 days before the first day of the first week the notice relates to unless it is not possible to give this much notice, in which case notice must be given as soon as practicable. This is the same as the corresponding notice requirements for Neonatal Care Leave.

However, you can agree with your employer to waive any notice requirements.

How do I give notice to take Neonatal Care Leave and Neonatal Care Pay?

See our page on Notice to take Neonatal Care Leave (and Pay if eligible)

In order to take Neonatal Care Leave and Neonatal Care Pay, you must provide your employer notice stating:

• Your name
• Your 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 (if applicable)
• The date on which you would like to take the leave (and pay)
• The number of weeks of Neonatal Care Leave (and pay) the notice is being given for
• Confirmation that the leave is being taken to care for the baby
• Confirmation that you are eligible to take the leave due to your relationship with the baby

If you have given notice before your baby has stopped receiving neonatal care, you must inform your employer (or the person liable to pay statutory neonatal care pay if different) of the date that neonatal care ends, as soon as is reasonably practicable after that date.

Your rights and obligations during and following Neonatal Care Leave

As with all statutory family leave, when you are on Neonatal Care Leave, you will continue to benefit from the terms and conditions of your employment, except pay. Your continuity of employment is not disrupted and you will continue to accrue your statutory holiday.

During Neonatal Care Leave, you remain bound by most of your contractual obligations, including your obligation of good faith to your employer and confidentiality. If your contract says you cannot work for another employer, this continues to be the case during Neonatal Leave.

You cannot be “punished” (suffer detrimental treatment) because you have taken Neonatal Care Leave or because you employer believed you were likely to take Neonatal Care Leave. This protection from detrimental treatment is set out in section 47C of the ERA 1996.

You are also legally protected from dismissal (Regulation 18(1) and (3) Neonatal Care Leave Regulations). Any dismissal where the reason or principal reason for dismissal is connected to the fact that you took Neonatal Care Leave or because your employer believed you were likely to take Neonatal Care Leave will be automatically unfair.

Am I entitled to return to the same job after a period of Neonatal Care Leave?

You will be entitled to return to the same job in the following circumstances:

• If you return to work after an isolated period of neonatal care leave
• If your returned to work after the last of two or more consecutive periods of statutory leave which did not include more than 4 weeks of parental leave or which did not total more than 26 weeks (excluding parental leave) of statutory leave. So for example, if you took a period of maternity leave as well as neonatal care leave, you will be entitled to return to the same job if the total amount of leave did not exceed 26 weeks.

In all other cases you are entitled to return to the same job or, if that is not reasonably practicable for your employer, you have the right to return to another job which is both suitable and appropriate for you. This is the same right as those returning from Additional Maternity Leave. For more information on suitable alternative employment, see our article on returning to work at the end of maternity leave.

Additional protections relating to Redundancy

You will be entitled to enhanced redundancy protections if you are made redundant while you are on Neonatal Care Leave irrespective of the length of the leave. In addition you will be entitled to an extended period of enhanced redundancy protections (for a period of 18 months from the birth of you baby) if you have taken at least 6 continuous weeks of Neonatal Care Leave. Please see our page for more information.

In addition, it would be automatic unfair dismissal if you are made redundant and the principal reason you were made redundant was because you took (or your employer believed you were likely to take) Neonatal Care Leave.

Questions

Sensitive Content Warning

We know that some parents visiting this page may have a baby in neonatal care or have experienced loss. This page provides information about your rights, including in difficult circumstances. If you would prefer to speak to someone directly, please contact our team for tailored legal advice.

This advice applies in England, Wales and Scotland. If you live in another part of the UK, the law may differ. If you are in Northern Ireland you can visit the Labour Relations Agency or call their helpline Workplace Information Service on 03300 555 300.

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