Neonatal Care Leave: New UK Employer Obligations from 2025

Neonatal care leave is one of the most significant new employment rights introduced in recent years. The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 creates a standalone right for parents whose babies require neonatal care to take additional paid leave — separate from and on top of existing maternity, paternity, and shared parental leave entitlements.

The provisions came into force in April 2025, and every UK employer needs to understand the new obligations. This guide covers who qualifies, how much leave and pay is available, and the practical steps to update your policies and payroll.

What the new right provides

Neonatal care leave gives eligible parents up to 12 weeks of additional leave if their baby is admitted to neonatal care within 28 days of birth and the care lasts for 7 continuous days or more. The leave is a day-one right — there is no qualifying service period for the leave itself, though statutory neonatal care pay requires 26 weeks of continuous service.

Eligibility criteria

The right applies to employees whose baby is admitted to neonatal care within 28 days of birth. Neonatal care means care received in a hospital setting, which can include neonatal intensive care units, special care baby units, or transitional care. The care must last for a continuous period of at least 7 days.

Both parents are individually entitled to the leave — it is not shared between them. This means if both parents are employed, both can take up to 12 weeks each.

The right also extends to parents of babies born through surrogacy (intended parents), adoptive parents where the child is placed within 28 days of birth, and partners of the birth parent provided they have parental responsibility or expect to have it.

How the leave works in practice

Neonatal care leave accrues at one week for each week (or part week) that the baby spends in neonatal care, up to the 12-week maximum. The leave can be taken in one continuous block or in non-consecutive weeks, giving parents flexibility to manage their time around the baby's care schedule.

The leave must be taken within 68 weeks of the baby's birth (or placement for adoption). This window allows parents to spread the leave across the first year if needed, rather than taking it all immediately.

Employer obligations

As an employer, you must not refuse a request for neonatal care leave from an eligible employee. You must not subject an employee to any detriment because they took or sought to take neonatal care leave. You must continue to accrue all contractual benefits (except salary) during the leave period, including holiday accrual, pension contributions, and any other benefits the employee would normally receive.

The employee has the right to return to the same job after neonatal care leave of 6 weeks or less. If the leave is longer than 6 weeks, or is combined with other statutory leave, the employee has the right to return to the same job or a suitable alternative if that is not reasonably practicable.

Protection from dismissal

Dismissing an employee because they took neonatal care leave, or selecting them for redundancy for that reason, is automatically unfair — there is no qualifying service requirement for this protection. This mirrors the protections that exist for maternity, paternity, and other family-related leave.

Statutory neonatal care pay

Employees who meet the qualifying conditions are entitled to statutory neonatal care pay (SNCP) for each week of neonatal care leave. The rate is the same as other statutory family pay — £187.18 per week in 2025/26 or 90% of the employee's average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.

You can recover SNCP from HMRC in the same way as other statutory payments. Small employers (those whose total NI liability in the previous tax year was £45,000 or less) can recover 103% of SNCP. All other employers can recover 92%.

Use our Payroll Tax Calculator to model the impact on your payroll costs, and see our statutory sick pay calculations guide for the mechanics of statutory pay recovery.

Updating your policies

You should take three immediate steps. First, update your employee handbook and family leave policy to include neonatal care leave as a standalone entitlement. Our staff handbook guide covers how to structure these updates. Second, brief your line managers so they know the right exists and understand they cannot refuse or discourage requests. Third, update your payroll system to handle SNCP calculations and HMRC recovery.

For the broader picture on parental leave, see our maternity and paternity leave guide and our shared parental leave guide.

Key takeaways

Neonatal care leave is a day-one right providing up to 12 weeks of additional leave and statutory pay for parents whose babies require neonatal hospital care. It sits on top of all existing family leave entitlements and cannot be refused. Update your handbook, brief your managers, and ensure your payroll can process SNCP. The financial impact for most employers is small, but the consequences of non-compliance — automatic unfair dismissal claims and detriment complaints — are significant. Check your current policies against our Compliance Audit tool.