Changes to the law
From 6 April 2025, there will be a new legal right to time off work for employees to care for a child of theirs that requires neonatal care (Neonatal Care Leave (NCL)).
In practice
There are some complexities around its operation, but in principle it permits parents, whose child has received medical care starting within 28 days of birth/adoption and that continues for at least seven consecutive days, to be able to take time off. For those with at least 26 weeks continuous employment at the key date (which for natural parents would be 15 weeks before expected week of the birth) and who pay National Insurance on their pay, there is a statutory entitlement to pay. In essence, if the employee qualifies for statutory maternity pay, statutory paternity pay, statutory adoption pay or statutory shared parental pay, they would be eligible.
NCL cannot be taken until after the child has received seven consecutive days of neonatal care and it can be taken at any time up to 68 weeks from the date of birth/adoption. There is a maximum entitlement of 12 weeks per child.
Considerations for employers
You will want to pastorally care for your employees. It would be wise to consider whether or not your organisation wants to pay statutory neonatal care pay or something more generous. Many employers will choose to retain a discretion as to whether or not they will top up the statutory rate rather than make it contractual. If you choose to do this, remember the importance of being consistent when applying this discretion. If you decide to offer full pay in these circumstances as a contractual right, you may need to update contracts of employment for new employees (see more on this in our article ‘The Good Work Plan – will it impact you?’).
Policies in staff handbooks will need updating to reflect the statutory right to neonatal care leave and pay. If you need assistance with this, please speak with our Employment Team.
We have produced a new policy, which is available for purchase on our website here.
If you are a Premium subscriber you will be provided with a copy of this policy for free, as part of your subscription. There are more changes afoot over the next few months. Details on our Premium service, which provides free updates to the Employment Pack (and other packs) and any new policies, can be found here.
