The Neonatal Care Leave and Miscellaneous Amendments Regulations 2025 came into force on 6 April 2025, providing parents with a new entitlement of to up to 12 weeks’ leave and pay whilst their child requires neonatal care.

Whilst the much-welcomed legislation allows parents to spend this essential time with their child, the drafting of the rules is fairly complex. We have detailed some practical top tips for implementing and managing effective neonatal care procedures below.

It is expected that around 60,000 new parents will be eligible for this new form of family leave, with 34,000 parents expected to take up paid neonatal care leave each year. It goes without saying that looking after a child who requires neonatal care will be an extremely difficult time for parents, and this new law seeks to ensure that employees are able to spend time with their child and provides enhanced income security for eligible employees.

Under the new law, parents are entitled to a maximum of 12 weeks’ leave (and pay, if eligible) where their child requires neonatal care in the first 28 days of the child’s life. The entitlement to leave is a day one right, meaning that employees are not required to have worked for their employer for a certain amount of time before they are eligible. However, employees are required to have 26 weeks’ continuous service before they are eligible for statutory neonatal care pay.

Although the legislation does allow for a certain degree of flexibility, the way in which it is drafted presents complexities in relation to how employers will have to calculate and manage the leave. To assist with effectively implementing and managing neonatal care leave procedures, we have listed some practical top tips for employers below:

1. 1. Issue a policy 
      The rules are complex, so it is important that entitlements, eligibility requirements and notification procedures are detailed in a clear and accessible way.  Whilst neonatal care leave and pay provisions could be slotted into an existing family leave policy, the complexity of the rules may lend itself better to being housed in a standalone policy.  The most important thing to remember is that the drafting (wherever it is contained) should be coherent and easily understood.
      
      
   2. Communication is key
      Employers should update employees of this new right and let them know that a new policy has been published.  This could be communicated via an email to staff, an internal training session or on the intranet.  It is important that it is clearly and effectively communicated, and accessible to all employees.
      
      
   3. Keep it consistent
      If an employer is going to offer enhanced neonatal care pay, then this should be captured in any colleague communications.  If an employer already offers enhanced entitlements for other types of family leave, then it may wish to do so for neonatal care leave too.  Employers should avoid a situation where some employees are being given enhanced neonatal care pay and others are not, as inferences can be drawn from those inconsistencies and may leave them exposed to allegations of unfair treatment.
      
      
   4. Simplify the process 
      Having a child in neonatal care will be a stressful and difficult time for parents.  Employers should lead with compassion during this time, and this includes making the process for taking neonatal care leave as simple as possible.  For example, we recommend that employers have template forms that can be completed for employees taking neonatal care leave, and that the form clearly sets out the information that employees are required to provide.
      
      
   5. Make sure line managers are fully briefed 
      It is important that line managers are aware of this new right, familiar with their employer’s applicable processes, and trained on how to handle such requests.  If line managers are fully informed of the right and how it operates, then it should allow them to handle any requests sensitively and promptly.
      
      
   6. Be mindful of wider considerations 
      Be mindful of data protection considerations. Employers will be holding information regarding the child’s health, and employers should bear in mind that certain employees may not want colleagues to know that they are taking leave for this reason.  
      
      Employers should also ensure that their payroll systems are able to process neonatal care payments accurately and on time, and avoid the situation where a parent has not been paid due to an error.  
      
      
   7. Remember redundancy protection
      In a redundancy situation, employers must offer pregnant employees, or those returning from maternity, adoption or shared parental leave, a suitable alternative vacancy (if one exists), giving them priority over other employees.  This redundancy protection is now also offered to employees who have taken six or more consecutive weeks of neonatal care leave.  With these recent changes to redundancy protections, more employees will qualify for this priority right to a suitable alternative role and employers will need to ensure that this has been considered and offered if available.
      
      The protected period lasts for 18 months from the child’s birth or placement for adoption, so employers will need to ensure that effective tracking systems are in place to capture all employees who qualify for this additional protection.
      
      

   8. Stay alert to further Employment Right Bill (“ERB”) changes

      Although we have already seen a raft of recent changes to family leave and pay entitlements under UK employment law, the ERB proposes further strengthened entitlements for employees.  It is essential that employers stay on top of these changes and understand how they might interact with the new neonatal care regime when the ERB enters into force.  These changes affect a host of family leave topics, including the removal of the qualifying periods of employment for both paternity leave and parental leave, changes to when paternity leave can be taken and protection from dismissals following a period of family leave.

You can get more insight into how neonatal care leave and pay will operate in practice in our recent Law Lab webinar recording.

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