UK confirms right to statutory neonatal care leave

The long-awaited right to neonatal care leave will come into force for babies born on or after 6 April 2025.

The Neonatal Care Leave Regulations apply if a baby needs neonatal care lasting at least a week within 28 days of birth. Neonatal care is defined as medical care in a hospital, under the direction of a consultant after a period of inpatient treatment, or palliative or end of life care.

The right applies to a baby’s parents (including the mother’s partner if they will have responsibility for the child’s upbringing), intended parents in a surrogacy arrangement and to adopters and prospective adopters. Employees are entitled to one week’s leave for each week of care the baby needs, subject to a maximum of 12 weeks’ leave. Leave itself is a day one right, but parents must have 26 weeks’ service and earn more than the national insurance lower earnings limit to qualify for statutory neonatal care pay.

Employees must take their leave within 68 weeks of a child’s birth. How leave is taken and the notice requirements that apply depend on when an employee wants to take leave. The Regulations split this into “tier one” and “tier two” periods. It is likely that mothers will take leave during the “tier two” period as they will be on maternity leave during the “tier one” period in most cases.

Tier one period

Employees have a high degree of flexibility if they take leave while a baby is receiving neonatal care or during the week following the end of neonatal care, referred to as the “tier one” period. They do not have to give their employer advance notice of leave, provided they tell the employer of their intention by the time they are due to start work on the first day of each week of leave. 

“Tier one” leave can be taken as non-consecutive weeks if the employee wishes.

Tier two period

Leave taken outside the “tier one” period is not quite so flexible. It can only be taken consecutively, and employees must give 15 days’ notice of a single week of leave, or 28 days’ notice of two or more weeks’ leave.

Regardless of when leave is taken, employees must tell their employer the child’s date of birth, the start and end date of neonatal care, how much leave they want to take and confirm that they are eligible for leave and are taking it to care for their child.

Employees remain entitled to their existing terms and conditions during neonatal care leave, except pay, and are protected against dismissal or detrimental treatment because they have taken or sought to take leave. Enhanced redundancy protection also applies. Employees are entitled to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy if they are redundant while they are on leave or, for employees who have taken at least six consecutive weeks’ leave, within eighteen months of their child’s birth.

Authored by Stefan Martin, Eleanor Doubleday and Jo Broadbent.