New Neonatal Care Bill – Pay and leave
This article gives details on the new Neonatal Care Bill and how it will offer more paid time off work to spend with your child.
If your baby is born prematurely or sick, they will receive neonatal care in a hospital or another agreed care setting, often for a prolonged period. This can put you in a difficult position, having to use your existing leave entitlement or having to return to work while your baby is still receiving medical care.
The Neonatal Care Bill addresses these concerns and will offer more paid time off work to spend with your child.
The Bill
The Neonatal Care (Pay and Leave) Bill aims to provide additional leave and pay if you are employed and responsible for children receiving neonatal care. If you meet the eligibility criteria it will offer up to 12 weeks of extra leave and pay.
The extra leave is to help parents care for their babies who have been born premature or sick, without the worry of returning to work.
Once in law, neonatal care leave will be available to you from your first day in employment.
Key points
- Both parents will each be entitled to up to 12 weeks of leave and pay.
- The bill will apply to all babies who have a hospital admission of a week or more shortly after birth, regardless of whether they were born premature, or full-term but sick.
- An amendment to legislation will mean more people will qualify for neonatal pay.
How much?
If you claim Neonatal Care Leave, you may also be able to claim Statutory Neonatal Care Pay if you’re eligible.
You’ll get either £187.18 a week or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is lower).
Any money you get is paid the same way as your wages, for example weekly or monthly, along with deductions for tax and National Insurance.
Eligibility criteria
You may be able to get up to 12 weeks’ Neonatal Care Pay and Leave if:
- Your baby was born on or after 6 April 2025.
- Your baby is cared for in a health setting for more than 1 week before they reach 28 days of life.
- You’re the baby’s parent or partner of the baby’s mother, and have caring responsibility for the baby.
- You’re taking the leave to care for the baby.
- You must also meet the eligibility criteria as an employee. This is listed below:
Neonatal Care Leave
To get Neonatal Care Leave, you must:
- Be classed as an employee – it does not matter how long you’ve worked for your employer.
- Be employed in England, Scotland or Wales.
- Give your employer notice for Neonatal Care Leave.
Statutory Neonatal Care Pay
To get Statutory Neonatal Care Pay, you must have been continuously employed by your employer for at least 26 weeks up to the end of what’s called the ‘qualifying week’.
If you get Maternity or Paternity Pay, the ‘qualifying week’ is the 15th week before the baby is due. If you get Statutory Adoption Pay, it’s the week you were told you’d been matched with the baby for adoption.
Otherwise, the ‘qualifying week’ is the week immediately before the baby enters neonatal care.
You must also:
- Continue to be employed up to the week before you want the pay to start.
- Earn on average £125 a week (before tax) or more, over an 8-week period.
How to claim
You claim Neonatal Care Pay and Leave through your employer. You must take it within 68 weeks (just under 16 months) of your baby’s birth date, including if your baby is adopted.
You must give your employer notice before you take Neonatal Care Pay and Leave. If you’re eligible for both Pay and Leave, you should ideally do this at the same time.
How much notice you must give depends on when you’re taking the leave and pay.
This is sometimes called ‘tier 1’ leave.
You need to tell your employer on the day you want your leave to start, ideally before the time you usually start work or as soon as you can afterwards. You can give notice to your employer for pay up to 28 days after your leave starts.
If you need to continue leave and pay for another week, you’ll need to let your employer know again. You should do this by the end of the previous week.
If your baby is likely to be in neonatal care for a long time, your employer may agree that you can contact them less frequently.
You need to tell your employer the date your baby leaves neonatal care as soon as possible.
This is sometimes called ‘tier 2’ leave.
If you’re taking one week of leave and pay, you’ll need to tell your employer 15 days before you want your leave and pay to start. If you’re taking 2 or more weeks’ leave and pay, you’ll need to tell them 28 days in advance.
To claim neonatal care leave, you must write to your employer telling them:
- Your full name.
- Your baby’s date of birth and, if adopted, the date they were placed with you (or the date they entered into Great Britain if adopted from overseas).
- The start and end date of your baby’s neonatal care.
- When you want your Neonatal Care Leave to begin.
- How many weeks’ leave you want to take.
For pay and leave, you’ll also need to confirm:
- You’ll care for the baby during the period you’re claiming for.
- You’re the baby’s parent or mother’s partner with caring responsibilities for the baby – you’ll only need to give this information the first time you write to your employer.
If you have more than one baby in neonatal care
If your babies are in neonatal care at the same time (for example, if you have twins), you can only claim Neonatal Care Pay and Leave for one of them, up to a maximum of 12 weeks.
If your babies are in neonatal care at separate times, you’ll be able to claim for each of them – up to a maximum of 12 weeks in total.
You’ll need to provide your employer with information for each baby.
The information in this article was correct at the time of publishing but may be subject to change.
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Kathy Gibson, Digital Information Officer
First published: November 2023
Last reviewed: April 2025
Review due: April 2026
