Parents to receive neonatal care leave and pay
New Right to Neonatal Care Leave & Pay
Thousands of working families with babies in neonatal care will be entitled to additional time off with Neonatal Care Leave.
Currently, many working families across the UK are having to return to work while their babies are sick in hospital, and these measures aim to address some of the difficulties that thousands of parents face when their baby is in neonatal care.
The Government is committed to providing the support families need to allow them to be by their child’s side without having to work throughout or use up their existing leave. The proposed Act and amendments to existing legislation can be found at Gov.uk.
What will change?
- Applies in respect of children born on or after 6th April 2025, applying to parents of babies born on or after this date.
- Parents will be able to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave and a minimum entitlement of one week, in addition to other leave entitlements such as maternity, paternity and shared parental leave.
- Neonatal Care Leave (NCL) will be a day one right and will apply to parents of babies who are admitted into hospital up to the age of 28 days, and who have a continuous stay in hospital of 7 full days or more.
Employment Rights Minister Justin Madders said:
“Parents of children in neonatal care have more than enough to worry about without being concerned about how much annual leave they have left or whether they’ll be able to make ends meet.”
Like many measures included in the government’s other employment rights reforms, neonatal care leave will be a day one right, meaning that it will be available to an employee from their first day in a new job.
Alongside the leave entitlement, Statutory Neonatal Care Pay will be available to those who meet continuity of service requirements and a minimum earnings threshold.