Tag Archive for: maternity leave

The Neonatal Care Leave and Pay Act 2023 comes into force on 6 April 2025. Are you ready?

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There will be a new statutory right to neonatal care leave, and in some cases, pay for parents of premature or seriously ill babies that are born on or after the 6 April 2025. So how are you going to practically implement these changes in your organisation?

Why has this Act been introduced?

According to the charity Bliss, one in seven babies born in the UK receive neonatal care, which is approximately 90,000 per year. The average stay in neonatal care is seven days, but the length of stay can vary significantly depending on how early the baby is born and where babies are born at up to 27 weeks of gestation, the average stay can be as long as 92 days.

What should employers be aware of?

The new legislation will only be eligible when a baby remains in neonatal care for at least 7 consecutive days, so is only likely to be taken by parents of premature babies and those requiring complex medical care.

Neonatal care is defined as medical care provided to a baby after birth in specific settings, such as medical care provided in a hospital. The regulations also clarify that routine post-natal check-ups and general health monitoring are not covered under the Act.

In summary, the new Act will consider the right to leave and the right to pay separately. This means employers will need to be clear on eligibility rules for any staff who request the leave and pay.

  • Neonatal care leave is a day-one right, which means any employee will be eligible regardless of length of service or earnings. This means that if the employee’s baby meets the above eligibility (i.e. remains in neonatal care for seven consecutive days), then an employee can take up to 12 weeks of leave in addition to any other family friendly leave entitlements.
  • Neonatal care pay is subject to length of service and earnings qualifying criteria.

With this in mind, employers will need to be mindful of how to discuss this with employees who may not realise that they may not be entitled to both.

Neonatal care leave

As stated above, eligibility for leave is when the employee’s baby remains in neonatal care for seven consecutive days. In this case, the employee can take up to 12 weeks of leave and this is in addition to any other family friendly leave entitlements. Further criteria are as follows:

  • The seven consecutive days requirement of neonatal care must be immediately after the birth and fall within the first 28 days of life
  • Leave cannot be taken for the first week of care and the leave is accrued in arrears
  • The leave must be taken within 68 weeks of the baby’s birth.

The above is useful to think about when considering how other periods of leave could be taken at this time, e.g. paternity leave could be taken before neonatal care is.

The leave is available for birth parents, intended parents in surrogacy arrangements, adoptive parents and partners.

The leave has been divided into two tiers which specify when the leave can be taken and the associated 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 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.

Neonatal pay

To be eligible for pay as well as leave, employees must have at least 26 weeks’ continuous service at the ‘relevant week’, which is the week preceding the 14th week before the estimated week of childbirth, or the week when the adopter is notified of the match. They must also earn at or above the lower earnings limit.

Employees can receive up to 12 weeks of pay, depending on how long their baby remains in neonatal care. The pay is set at the statutory rate or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.

Further guidance

The government is planning to publish guidance to support both employers and employees in understanding the new right to neonatal care leave and pay.  At the time of writing, this guidance is expected before the end of March, so do watch out for further updates.

If you would like to discuss the new requirements further, please contact Rachel Walker in our team on 07392 090 890.

The Employment Rights Bill and miscarriage leave: keeping up with the latest developments

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We continue to see changes to the Employment Rights Bill (ERB) with four amendments in just nine days. One such amendment is the inclusion of early pregnancy loss in bereavement rights.

Currently, employees who have lost a child under 18 years old or experience a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy have a right to two weeks’ paid bereavement leave. The proposed amendments would extend this right to employees who have experienced pregnancy loss as the result of a miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy or termination, or an unsuccessful attempt at in vitro fertilisation as a result of embryo transfer loss. Whilst this amendment is not as far reaching as those requested by the Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) which had recommended the law be changed to bring early pregnancy loss in line with existing provisions for baby loss after 24 weeks, it is seen as a positive step by government to recognise the need for all those suffering any form of pregnancy loss.

Development of the ERB

Coming back to the progress of the ERB, the good news is that it has just had its third reading and that should hopefully mean that the amended ERB will be published soon, meaning we will be able to take a breath and be able to consider the whole document.

We don’t yet have a clear idea of when it will come into law (i.e. when it will become the Employment Rights Act – we assume that will be the name) but if the Bill progresses at normal speed, the Bill should receive Royal Assent (which is when the King signs it) before Parliament breaks for the summer in July. That doesn’t mean it will come into force on that date. Once an Act has received Royal Assent, parts of what will then be the Act will come into force on different dates from then onwards.

There has been some speculation amongst legal commentators about when parts of the ERB will come into force. One commentator quoting his “source”, has said that the sections of the ERB that will abolish the ability to fire and rehire (which is likely to have a massive impact) will become law in October 2025, but other commentators are saying that it’s more likely to happen in Autumn 2026. The reality is we will have to wait to get that further clarity.

If you would like to see what’s in the current ERB and what the changes are, please take a look at the recent update prepared by our colleagues at VWV.

Whilst a plan of action seems impossible in the face of so much uncertainty, employers will need to prepare themselves for the changes when they come in, because they will amount to a significant change. We will continue to provide you with updates as and when detail arises and will also consider the likely practical impact of key sections in our regular editions of Spotlight.

If you would like to discuss how you can prepare for the ERB and its proposed amendments, please contact Simon Martin in our team on 07384 813 076.

Family leave changes coming in April 2024 – what employers need to know

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A number of changes to family leave come into force on 6 April 2024 – introduction of Carer’s leave and changes to existing legislation on paternity leave and pregnancy and maternity rights. We take a brief look at those changes, highlighting the important points for employers.

Carer’s leave

The Carer’s Leave Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/251) come into force on 6 April 2024. These regulations will introduce a new statutory right to unpaid carer’s leave for employees in England, Wales and Scotland:

  • From 6 April 2024, employees will be able to take one week’s unpaid leave per twelve-month rolling, to provide or arrange care for a dependant with long-term care needs
  • The leave will be a ‘day one’ right, meaning that staff will not require a minimum period of service
  • The leave can be taken in one block or periods of a day or half a day
  • The leave is pro-rated to reflect an employee’s working arrangement
  • For the purposes of the regulations, a ‘dependant’ is defined as a spouse, civil partner, child or parent of the employee who lives in the same household as the employee, or reasonably relies on the employee to provide or arrange care
  • A “long-term care need” is defined as an illness or injury that requires, or is likely to require, care for more than three months, have a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, or requires care for a reason connected with their old age
  • Employees will not need to provide evidence of a need to take carer’s leave, but employers will be able to ask staff to self-certify that they are eligible
  • Maximum entitlement is one week, irrespective of the number of dependants

Understanding its application in regard to existing family-friendly policies will be important for employers. For example, carer’s leave is distinct from existing legislation which provides for time off for dependants, which is intended to be used for emergency situations which typically last one or two days. By contrast, carer’s leave has a set duration of one week and is expected to be a planned absence. As such, employers can request that a period of carer’s leave be postponed, provided it can show that the existing request will have a serious disruption to the organisation. Importantly though, an employer cannot request cannot be refused.

Organisations should consider providing training to line managers to deal with requests for carer’s leave and provide guidance on its application.

Ensuring a carer’s leave policy is in place or is incorporated into any existing family friendly policies and procedures. Consideration should be given to creating relevant systems and documentation to support and track any applications.

Communicating the introduction of the new policy will also be an opportunity for employers to demonstrate their commitment to supporting staff deal with their caring responsibilities.

Paternity Leave

On 8 March 2024, the Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 came into force and is applicable where the Expected Week of Childbirth is 6 April 2024 onwards. Under the amendments:

  • Employees will be able to choose between taking two non-consecutive weeks of paternity leave or a single period of one or two weeks. Previously the entitlement was for one continuous block of either one or two weeks
  • Employees will be able to alter the dates of their leave, provided they give at least 28 days notice of the change
  • Employees will be able to take leave at any time during the first year following the birth or adoption, as opposed to having to take it within the first eight weeks after adoption or birth

Employers should look to ensure their policies are appropriately updated to reflect the changes in legislation and communicate the changes so that line managers and staff are aware of the revised entitlements.

Pregnancy and maternity leave – extending redundancy protection

Employees on maternity leave already have the right to be offered any suitable alternative vacancy in a redundancy situation. The Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave and Shared Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024, which come into effect on 6 April 2024 provide for greater protection against redundancy during pregnancy and for six months after return to work from maternity leave as well as certain other family-related leave. The main features of the amendments are:

  • The redundancy protection period (the right for pregnant women and new mothers on maternity leave to be offered suitable alternative employment in a redundancy situation) applies from the point that an employee informs their employer that they are pregnant (whether this is done orally or in writing).
  • The redundancy protection period is extended to 18 months after the birth of the child (or adoption placement) for employees returning from maternity leave, adoption leave or shared parental leave.

The changes in relation to maternity leave will effectively double the current period of redundancy protection from one year to around two years, assuming the pregnant employee advises the employer of their pregnancy at about the 12-week point and takes one year’s maternity leave. This could therefore substantially increase the number of employees who must be given priority for any suitable alternative vacancy on redundancy, particularly in workplaces where the majority of employees are women.

Where an employer is looking at possible restructures, they will need to ensure that redundancy processes take account of the extended redundancy protection period where any employees at risk of redundancy are pregnant or have recently returned to work from maternity, adoption or shared parental leave.

Organisations should also ensure that policies and procedures are reviewed to reflect the changes. Given the significance of the changes, it will also be important to ensure line managers are provided with training and guidance to understand the effect of the enhanced protections now provided.

For specialist HR support with any of these topics, please contact Sue Meehan Boyes in our team on 07384 468797.