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In a recent press release, the Department for Business and Trade has confirmed that the new statutory right to neonatal leave and pay for parents will come into force on 6 April 2025.
Key provisions
Eligibility Criteria (Leave)
- Neonatal Care Leave will be available to parents of babies admitted into neonatal care up to 28 days old, provided the baby has a continuous hospital stay of 7 full days or longer.
- The leave is a day one right, meaning there is no minimum length of service required to qualify.
Leave and Pay Entitlements
- Eligible parents will be entitled to up to 12 weeks of leave, which can be taken in addition to other leave entitlements such as maternity or paternity leave.
- Statutory Neonatal Care Pay will be available to parents who meet the following criteria:
- The continuity of service requirement; and
- The minimum earnings threshold.
- The specific details of which are yet to be confirmed and will be laid out in subsequent regulations although we strongly suspect it will be on similar lines to existing criteria applicable for maternity and paternity pay.
- We also do not have any details of the amount of pay that eligible parents will be entitled to but again suspect it will follow existing provisions for family-related leave.
Implementation
- Although the regulations to implement these entitlements have been laid, further secondary legislation is required to address remaining details, such as pay. The government has yet to confirm the timeline for this additional legislation but it should of course be in advance of the right coming into force in April.
Practical steps for employers
Employers should start preparing for the upcoming changes to ensure compliance:
- Review and update policies to include provisions for neonatal leave and pay.
- Engage with payroll providers to ensure that Statutory Neonatal Care Pay can be processed.
- Provide training for HR and managers on the new entitlements to ensure that employee queries and requests are handled properly, consistently and, of course, with the required empathy.
- Consider sharing information with employees to raise awareness of the upcoming entitlements.
Next steps
We recommend that employers monitor further government announcements and guidance to ensure readiness for the implementation of neonatal leave and pay from 6 April 2025. We will also be providing further updates on the specific details that have not yet been provided as and when these are confirmed. For any further information in relation to this article, please contact Lynsey Blyth and Henry Cross.
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