Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act introduced from April 2025
From 6 April 2025, thousands of working families with babies in neonatal care will be entitled to additional time off as a day one right. Neonatal Care Leave (NCL) is available to employees whose baby is receiving or has received neonatal care. The baby must be born on or after 6 April 2025.
Here's some more detail on the new measures for neonatal parents:
Neonatal care must have occurred or begun
within 28 days of a baby being born, so wouldn’t cover parents whose child is diagnosed with a condition requiring a hospital stay after the first 28 days of life.
Those who can benefit are:
- The baby’s parents (including adoptive parents)
- The baby’s intended parents (in a surrogacy situation)
- The partner of the baby’s mother (if living with them in a relationship and with the expectation that they will have responsibility for raising the baby)
This is a day 1 right for employees - so the neonatal parent does not have to have been employed for any length of time to qualify for the leave.
NCL is taken to provide care for the baby, but if there is a situation where a baby tragically passes away the leave is still accrued for any time spent on the neonatal unit.
Parents can take one week of NCL for every week their baby receives neonatal care up to a maximum of 12 weeks.
For parents of multiples who are receiving care at the same time the NCL is not increased - e.g. if twins are receiving care and are both discharged after 4 weeks, the NCL is 4 weeks, not 8. If one twin is discharged after 4 and one after 5 weeks, the NCL is 5 weeks, not 9.
Leave must be taken within 68 weeks of the baby’s birth - so it doesn’t necessarily cover the time that the baby is actually in hospital. Instead it can be ‘tagged’ onto the end of any parental leave (maternity/paternity) to essentially compensate for parental leave time spent in hospital.
Where leave is taken on the end of other leave it must be taken in 1 continuous block.
Where a parent isn’t on parental leave while the baby is in hospital - e.g. a father's paternity leave has ended and the baby is still receiving care, the leave can of course be taken while the baby remains in hospital.
Where the leave is taken while the baby is still in hospital, it can be taken in non-continuous blocks of at least a week at a time. So in a situation where a baby is in hospital for longer than 12 weeks, a father could take their 12 weeks leave in separate blocks and alternate between work and leave where necessary.
Whilst NCL is a day 1 right, pay for that leave is not. Pay is only available to employees with 26 weeks continuous service, as with Statutory Maternity Pay, and at the same rates. Employers can provide uplifted pay over and above statutory requirements, as many do with maternity or paternity leave.
During NCL employees retain their employment protections and rights as they would do on maternity leave.
More advice and support is available for parents here from Working Families.
