The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 came into force in early April 2025. The Act applies to babies who are admitted into neonatal care within 28 days of being born and remain there for at least a week. In relation to the legislation being in force Women’s Health Minister Baroness Merron said:
“No parent should have to choose between being with their vulnerable newborn or returning to work. Our action today will make all the difference to families going through an incredibly stressful time”.
Parents will receive 12 weeks’ paid leave with the aim being that parents will not have to choose between caring for their newborn baby and returning to the workplace.
Much like other family friendly rights the right to leave requires no qualifying length of service but, in relation to the pay element, the employee is required to have 26 weeks’ service.
Leave can be taken in blocks of one week and must be taken within the first 68 weeks of the child’s birth. The idea is that this leave will be tagged onto the end of another form of family leave for example, maternity or paternity leave. Eligible parents can take neonatal leave at the end of this planned leave to compensate for the time spent in hospital.
Alternatively there are emergency situations where the leave is taken whilst the child is in hospital and receiving care.
The legislation has dealt with these scenarios by creating tiers of leave periods. A tier 1 period is the emergency scenario where a parent takes leave whilst the baby is receiving care. In this tier leave can be taken in non- continuous blocks of a week. Tier 2 leave is anything that falls outside of tier 1 and this must be taken in a single continuous block.
This is a new statutory right and is one of many forms of family friendly leave that now exist. Employers should have clear policies on this and ensure managers are trained and confident in putting those policies into practice.
If you have any questions on any of the issues raised in this article, please contact Natalia Milne.