27th February 2025 ❘ Legal News and Commentary

The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act to come into effect in April

The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act to come into effect in April…

The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 is scheduled to come into effect via associated regulations on the 6^th of April this year, providing eligible employees with a right to take paid statutory neonatal care leave, when their child requires neonatal care following their birth. The Government expects this will benefit around 60,000 new parents, allowing them to focus on supporting their new family during the difficulties of neonatal care (GOV, 2025).

At the end of January, the Government published further regulations setting out additional leave provisions, subject to parliamentary approval. Our Employment team explores the highlights below…

Day-One right

Statutory neonatal care leave is a day-one right, meaning employees can access it from their first day of employment. This mirrors many of the Government’s ‘Plan to Make Work Pay’ policies, under which it intends to introduce many day-one rights.

Eligibility Criteria

Under the regulations, neonatal care covers a range of treatments, including hospital stays, care under the direction of a consultant and ongoing visits from other healthcare professionals.

For an employee to be eligible, neonatal care must start within 28 days of the child’s birth and must continue for at least seven days. The employee will accrue one week of leave for each week their child has spent in neonatal care, up to a maximum of 12 weeks, which must be taken within 68 weeks of the birth.

Rate of pay

Statutory neonatal care leave will be paid at the same rate as statutory paternity pay. At the time of writing, this is currently the lower of £184.03, or 90% of your average weekly earnings.

Right to return and Redundancy

Any employee who returns to work after a period of leave is entitled to return to the role they were employed in before their leave.

Where a redundancy process begins during neonatal leave, or an additional protected period following the leave, the employee is entitled to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy. The new contract must take effect immediately and should not be less favourable to the employee than their previous role.

Automatic unfair dismissal

If the employee is dismissed because they took, or the employer believed they were likely to take neonatal leave, they may bring a claim for automatic unfair dismissal.

This means that at a tribunal, the employer cannot point to the reasonableness of the decision to dismiss as a defence for the dismissal. This creates a significant risk to businesses, who should ensure they are prepared for the coming changes.

Moving forward, businesses should familiarize themselves with their new legal duties surrounding neonatal leave, ensuring they are equipped to support their employees through this difficult period.

Our Employment team can support your business through these changes. Just get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.