Neonatal Care Leave and Pay Regulations
- Employment Contract
Peninsula Team, Peninsula Team
(Last updated )
Peninsula Team, Peninsula Team
(Last updated )
Draft regulations have finally been released for the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act that became law back in 2023. Whilst these are still subject to parliamentary approval and change, the regulations provide details on how the leave will work in practice.
The purpose of this brand-new type of leave is to allow employees, with a newborn receiving neonatal care, to preserve their family leave entitlements that would have previously been used during this time. This new employment right will come into play for babies born on or after 6 April 2025.
Access to neonatal care leave will be a day-one right for all employees, however, to be eligible for it there is some qualifying criteria.
In order to take leave, neonatal care must last for at least 7 consecutive days, starting before the end of 28 days beginning with the day after the child’s birth. Neonatal care is described as any medical care received in a hospital, palliative or end of life care, and under certain circumstances care received outside of hospital.
Employees with parental or other prescribed responsibility for the child are entitled to take one week of leave for each “qualifying period” the child receives neonatal care, which is any period of 7 days during which the child receives care without interruption.
A maximum of 12 weeks leave is available, and it must be taken before the end of 68 weeks beginning with the child’s date of birth or date of placement in cases of adoption. Depending on where in that 68 weeks the employee takes the leave will dictate whether it can be split up or must be taken in one consecutive block.
As for other types of leave, notice is required to take neonatal care leave and the amount to be given will depend on when and for how long the employee plans to take the leave.
Neonatal care leave will be in addition to other statutory family leave entitlements, meaning employees can add any accrued neonatal care leave on to the end of any other entitlement they are taking.
The protections during and after neonatal care leave are the same as for other statutory family related leave types. This includes the right not to suffer a detriment or dismissal as a result of taking or seeking to take the leave, and the right to return to the same job unless when added to other statutory leave (excluding parental) the total duration of leave is more than 26 weeks; in that case, they are entitled to return to another job that is suitable and appropriate on not less favourable terms.
Employees taking neonatal care leave, and during an additional protected period, are entitled to the same redundancy protection as for employees on maternity leave. The protected period begins once the employee has taken six consecutive weeks of neonatal care leave and ends 18 months after the child was born or placed for adoption.
Employees taking neonatal care leave may also be entitled to receive up to 12 weeks statutory neonatal care pay. To be eligible for this, employees must have 26 weeks of continuous service continuing into the week immediately before the child starts receiving care. They will also need to have earned at least the lower earnings limit, which will be £125 per week, on average for the 8 weeks ending with the week prior to the child receiving care.
This statutory pay is paid at the same rate as other family leave payments such as maternity or paternity pay. By the time this comes into force, this will be the lower of £187.18 per week or 90% of the employees average weekly earnings.
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Peninsula Team, Peninsula Team
(Last updated )
Peninsula Team, Peninsula Team
(Last updated )
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