Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act

Key updates from the additional regulations include:

• Definition of neonatal care: This covers medical care in a hospital (including maternity homes, clinics and outpatient departments); ongoing medical care after hospital discharge that is under the direction of a consultant (including monitoring by, and visits to the child from, healthcare professionals arranged by the hospital); and palliative or end of life care.

• Eligibility: Employees who have a parental relationship with the child receiving care, (including birth parents, adoptive parents or intended parents via surrogacy, and partners of these individuals) will be entitled to take one week of leave for each week the child receives neonatal care (up to 12 weeks). If more than one child requires neonatal care at the same time, entitlement only accrues once. For example, if twins spend three weeks in neonatal care, the employee gets three weeks of leave, not six.

• Taking leave: An employee can take leave during the period the child is receiving the neonatal care or within 7 days of the end of that period (‘Tier 1 period’) or at any other time during the 68-week period following birth (‘Tier 2 period’). During the Tier 1 period, the leave can be taken in blocks of at least a week (but they do not need to be consecutive). During the Tier 2 period, any weeks of leave must be taken consecutively.

• Notice:    To take leave during the Tier 1 period, the employee needs to give notice to their employer at some point before their normal start time on their first day of absence (or as soon as reasonably practicable). There is no requirement for the notice to be in writing. But during the Tier 2 period the employee needs to give written notice to their employer 15 days in advance for a single week and 28 days in advance for two or more weeks. However, the employee and employer can agree to waive any notice requirements.

• The notice should include the parent’s name and confirmation they meet the eligibility criteria; their child’s date of birth (or, in adoption cases, the date of placement or entry to Great Britain); the date(s) their child received and ended neonatal care; the date they wish the leave to begin and the number of weeks leave the notice is for; and confirmation of their eligibility and that they are taking the leave to care for the child. If the employee gives notice before the child’s neonatal care ends, the employee must notify the employer of the leave’s end date as soon as reasonably practicable. If the care re-starts, the employee should notify their employer (promptly) of the new start date.