Neonatal Leave Act
At My HR Hub, we keep our clients ‘one step ahead’ with all HR and legislation changes. We offer 4 training workshops each month on a variety of subjects and our fully loaded HR Portal offers easy access to downloadable Policies, templates, letters and guidance notes.
We are now delivering the ‘Neonatal Leave Act’ training for our clients, weeks before this code comes into effect – to inform, train and prepare all relevant documents well ahead of the implementation date.
The new Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023, comes into force on 6th April 2025.
Soon, thousands of working families who’s babies enter into neonatal care will soon be entitled to additional time off as a day-one right, and extra pay subject to certain criteria.
This means that employed parents can gain access to up to 12 weeks extra leave on top of other leave they are entitled to, including maternity/paternity leave and shared parental leave, as the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 comes into effect.
This is paid providing they meet minimum service requirements and earnings thresholds.
At present, parents of newborn babies requiring neonatal care do not receive any extra time off or pay, instead relying on statutory leave not intended for long hospital stays or the discretion of their employer, and in some cases must return to work while their babies are still in hospital.
Employment rights minister Justin Madders said parents of children in neonatal care “have more than enough to worry about, without being concerned about how much annual leave they have left or whether they’ll be able to make ends meet”.
He added that the Neonatal Care Act would deliver certainty to both parents and employers by establishing baseline protections that will allow them to focus on the “one thing that matters most – their newborn baby”.
Eligibility and scope of neonatal care leave
The new law covers parents whose babies are admitted to neonatal care within the first 28 days after birth and require a hospital stay of seven full days or longer.
According to charity Bliss, more than 90,000 babies – equal to around one in seven – are admitted to neonatal units each year in the UK.
Eligible parents will receive up to 12 weeks of leave in addition to other family leave they may be entitled to, including maternity and paternity leave, which can be taken in blocks of one week. The leave must also be taken in the first 68 weeks of the baby’s birth.
Statutory neonatal care pay will be available to those who meet the necessary criteria, including a qualifying employment period and a minimum earnings threshold.
How can your business prepare for this new legislation?
As this is a Statutory law, business and HR need to prepare for these changes by updating policies, processes, training HR and Managers and updating payroll systems before the 6 April implementation date.
Rebecca Bull, of My HR Hub states “Businesses should ensure their parental leave policies reflect the new entitlement and create clear processes for employees to request this leave. Training HR and people Managers is essential in order to fully communicate this change. Also updating Company Handbooks with the new Policies is essential.
The new legislation is far from straightforward and not a linear HR process, the additional variations based on each individual employee circumstance can add an additional layer of complexity, for example, the two-tiered approach to giving notice, the type of role the parent has and the type of leave too.”
My HR Hub offers full training, policies, processes and HR advice in this new legislation and is open to offering training to all businesses to ensure full compliance. Get in touch if you need further support in getting you fully up to date and ahead of this legislation when it arrives on 6th April 2025.
