Navigating neonatal care leave
In our March Spotlight article, we outlined the key updates for employers to be aware of regarding the Neonatal care leave legislation which went live from 1st April 2025. This included an overview of eligibility requirements, and explained how the Act considered the rights to leave and the right to pay separately.
The government has recently published further supporting guidance for employers in managing neonatal care leave requests from employees. In this article we’ve outlined the key points employers need to consider, along with some examples of how it works in practice.
Below is a timetable of the key changes – and what employers should be doing to prepare.
Information required by employees
Employers do not need to see documentary evidence to take neonatal care leave. You should not ask your employee to share medical information about their baby’s condition.
Employers can be flexible in how they ask employees to make a request for neonatal care leave under tier 1, so phone, email, WhatsApp would be acceptable.
There can be situations where a baby is admitted to neonatal care on more than one occasion, which means leave entitlement would need to be checked. Employers should ask their employees to keep a record of dates of treatment.
If the employee is eligible for neonatal care pay, they are required to provide information in writing., which includes the baby’s date of birth, date they started to receive neonatal care, and confirmation that the employee meets the parental relationship criteria..
This information is also required for tier 2 leave requests.
The tier system
Neonatal care leave is divided into tiers, to determine when the leave can be taken and notice requirements.
- Tier 1 applies when the baby is still receiving neonatal care. It can be taken in non-consecutive blocks. Employees need to advise their manager before their first day of Neonatal care leave, or as soon as is reasonably practical
- Tier 2 will apply after the baby has been discharged from neonatal care, and needs to be taken in one continuous block. Employees need to give at least 15 days’ notice to take a single week, or 28 days’ notice for two or more consecutive weeks – although employers could decide to waive the statutory notice requirements.
Scenario 1 – Tiers in practice
- A baby is admitted to neonatal care immediately after birth and remains there for four weeks.
- The mother has already began maternity leave, which cannot be replaced by neonatal care leave – so does not take Tier 1 leave
- When her maternity leave ends, she uses her entitlement to neonatal care leave by requesting four weeks of Tier 2 leave and follows necessary notice requirements
- Her partner takes his paternity leave when the baby is born for two weeks
- Her partner returns to work for a week
- Her partner then then takes one week of neonatal care leave under Tier 1
- He then provides his employer with the relevant notice, and takes the remaining three weeks’ entitlement of neonatal care under Tier 2
Multiple Births
The requirement for neonatal care can be higher in multiple births (twins or triplets). If all babies require neonatal care at the same time, then parents would only be eligible for one period of leave attributed to one of the baby’s, rather than separate periods of leave for each child. However, if there are multiple treatments required and no overlap, then this could trigger separate periods.
Scenario 2 – Multiple Births
- Twin A and Twin B are born and both spend one week in a neonatal care unit from birth (days 0-7).
- Their father is entitled to one week’s neonatal care under Tier 1 for both twins
- Twin A returns home on day 8, and Twin B stays in hospital
- Their father takes a second week of neonatal care under Tier 1 for Twin B
- Twin B returns home on day 16
- Twin A is readmitted on day 20 and remains in hospital for a 10 days (day 20 – day 30)
- Their father takes another week of neonatal care leave under Tier 1 for Twin A
- When both twins are home, he applies to his employer for additional neonatal care leave under Tier 2, which he takes as a block for weeks 7-9
The nature of neonatal care leave can make it difficult to plan in advance and you may need to look at each situation on a case-by-case basis. Having straightforward policies readily available for staff will be helpful, particularly as they may be trying to navigate this during a stressful period. You should also ensure that any policies signpost employees to further information and support.
