From 6 April this year, about 60,000 new parents will be able to benefit from a right to neonatal care leave.

Following the Royal Assent of the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay Act) 2023 last month (and now a draft statutory instrument, the Neonatal Care Leave and Miscellaneous Amendments Regulations 2025) new measures that will help employed parents focus on supporting their new family without fear of losing their jobs will come into force.

Charities and campaigners have welcomed the new measures but employment lawyers have voiced concern over their complexity.

Neonatal care leave will apply to parents of babies born on or after 6 April who are admitted into neonatal care up to 28 days old and who have a continuous stay in hospital of seven full days or longer.

Eligible parents will be allowed to take up to 12 weeks of leave on top of any other leave they may be entitled to, including maternity and paternity leave. Alongside the leave entitlement, statutory neonatal care pay will be available to those who meet continuity of service requirements and a minimum earnings threshold. The right applies from day one of employment.

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Parents who have over 26 weeks’ service and who provide the appropriate notice are entitled to statutory pay for up to 12 weeks.

To qualify for statutory pay, the employee’s earnings must also match the lower earnings limit (which from April 2025 will be £125 per week) averaged over the eight weeks before the relevant date.

The regulations spell out that leave must be taken within 68 weeks of birth and can be taken while the child is still receiving neonatal care (although not starting before the second week of neonatal care) or after other family leave has been taken.

They also extend protections against redundancy, detriment, and dismissal to mirror the other protections provided to employees on family-related leave.

Employment law specialists suggest companies need to prepare for the changes. Chloë Leyland, partner at GunnerCooke, suggests that “some larger employers may also wish to consider whether any statutory pay periods should be enhanced for some, for all of the 12-week period and whether they wish to extend the 12-week statutory period of leave.”

She added that such companies may “also wish to provide a simpler method for the employee to provide notice of their intention to take this leave. The provisions in the Act to provide notice are complex and vary depending on when the leave is taken (either a Tier 1 or Tier 2 period). This may be difficult for employees to navigate at a time when family life will be challenging.”

Managers needed to be equipped with information in order to support employees during these difficult circumstances, Leyland added.

Employment rights minister Justin Madders said: “Parents of children in neonatal care have more than enough to worry about without being concerned about how much annual leave they have left or whether they’ll be able to make ends meet.”

Founder of premature baby charity The Smallest Things, Catriona Ogilvy, said the “stress and trauma experienced by families during a neonatal stay cannot be underestimated. No parent or carer should be sitting beside an incubator worrying about pay or work.

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“This much-needed additional leave and pay means parents and carers can be with their baby or babies in hospital. The new law will give families essential time at home to bond, begin to recover from trauma and to care for a fragile baby or babies without the pressure of finances or returning to work too soon.”

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