A “day-one” right
The government has published a detailed technical guide (the Guide) on neonatal care leave (NCL) and statutory neonatal care pay (SNCP). We explore the key points to be aware of. A statutory “day-one” right to NCL and an entitlement to SNCP for eligible employees came into force in April 2025. We published a blog post earlier in the year (here) setting out the key elements of the new entitlements.
Putting policy into practice
The Guide sheds light on how employers can put the legislation into practice including setting out the eligibility criteria and relevant notice requirements (which vary depending on the situation). It also covers some of the more complicated scenarios, including what happens if there are multiple children in neonatal care, what happens when a child is readmitted to neonatal care and the interaction between NCL and other forms of statutory leave.
A key takeaway for employers is that they should not compel employees to share documentary evidence regarding their baby’s condition or treatment. Employees do not need to provide medical information to be entitled to NCL or SNCP.
Interaction with other types of statutory leave
Employers should be aware of the interaction between NCL and other types of statutory leave such as maternity leave. Parents taking maternity leave should take NCL in Tier 2 only. This is because maternity leave is triggered by birth. Once it has started, the employee cannot pause it to take NCL. Similarly, an employee on adoption leave cannot pause it to take NCL. Allowing employees to do so would cause them to lose their entitlement to their remaining maternity or adoption leave.
Employers should liaise with employees about how best to use and plan their NCL and SNCP entitlement so they can make informed decisions given its impact on other entitlements.
Administering pay and the “relevant week”
SNCP requires employees to have been employed for at least 26 weeks up to the end of the “relevant week”. For employees entitled to other family-related statutory pay such as maternity or adoption pay, this is either the 15th week before the baby is due or the week the employee was matched for adoption, respectively.
It is important to exercise care in carrying out these calculations for employees who give birth prematurely. To ensure parents of premature children are not disadvantaged – given this is a key demographic the legislation is seeking to protect – employers can adjust the “relevant week”. This can be done for employees who would have been eligible for SNCP based on their estimated due date but lost eligibility due to a premature birth. The Guide sets out some helpful case studies.
Best practice
There are some key takeaways from the Guide for employers to ensure best practice:
- train HR teams on eligibility, notice and documentary requirements to ensure they are fully equipped to manage NCL appropriately;
- update internal policies and procedures to ensure all staff have access to accurate information, enabling them to make informed decisions about when to take leave around other statutory entitlements;
- ensure employees are aware of their rights and support them in accessing the new entitlements; and
- get to grips with the technicalities of calculating and administering SNCP and how you can claim these costs back.
The Guide points to external sources of support for affected employees at what is an unquestionably stressful time. Internal policies and benefits, such as an employee assistance programme or flexible working policy, might also be helpful. Signposting all these options in your policy may help to make life a little easier for anxious parents.
