An employee tells you their baby is in neonatal care, and you arrange cover for their absence. Eligible employees can take up to 12 extra weeks of neonatal care leave, but this leave entitlement is separate from statutory pay, which has separate qualifying rules.
Putting everything through as ordinary parental leave can leave the employee short of their entitlement and payroll using the wrong dates. Record the neonatal care dates, and check when the leave and pay entitlements can begin.
Key takeaways
Neonatal care leave is a day-one right for eligible employees in Great Britain whose babies are born on or after 6 April 2025. Each seven full, continuous days of qualifying care earns one week’s leave, capped at 12 weeks.
For 2026/27, statutory pay is the lower of £194.32 a week or 90% of average weekly earnings. Leave can apply even where pay doesn’t.
Who qualifies for neonatal care leave?
1. The employee meets the family conditions
The employee must meet the relevant relationship and caring-responsibility conditions. This can include a baby’s parent, a parent’s partner, an adopter or an eligible intended parent in a surrogacy arrangement.
There’s no minimum service requirement for leave. Someone who has just joined your business can qualify.
Employment status matters here. Our guide to employee and worker status explains why a contract’s label doesn’t settle which statutory rights apply.
2. The baby’s care meets the qualifying test
Neonatal care must start within 28 days of birth and continue for at least seven continuous days. The qualifying period must consist of full days, with counting starting the day after care begins.
Qualifying care includes hospital care, palliative or end-of-life care, and certain care after discharge. Post-discharge care must be under a consultant’s direction, with ongoing monitoring and visits arranged by the hospital.
A hospital discharge doesn’t necessarily end qualifying care. Record when the qualifying care itself stops.
3. The employment is covered by Great Britain’s rules
The scheme applies in England, Scotland and Wales. It doesn’t apply in Northern Ireland, where employment law is devolved and separate legislation governs employment rights.
The government’s neonatal leave guidance sets out the statutory entitlement. An employer can offer additional support through its own policy.
How many weeks can an employee take?
Count complete seven-day periods
Employees earn one week’s neonatal care leave for every seven full, continuous days of qualifying care, up to 12 weeks. Partial weeks don’t round up.
For the calculation, 21 full qualifying days produce three weeks’ leave. Twenty days produce two weeks, because the third seven-day period isn’t complete.
Keep the admission date separate from the first counted day. Counting admission as day one can bring the entitlement forward incorrectly.
Apply the multiple-birth rules
Twins or triplets, including other multiple births, don’t automatically increase the allowance. Where twins receive care at the same time, overlapping days count only once.
Separate, non-overlapping qualifying periods can add entitlement, but the overall 12-week cap still applies.
Each eligible parent has a separate entitlement, even when both are caring for twins. One parent’s leave doesn’t reduce the other’s allowance.
When can neonatal care leave be taken?
Tier 1 allows separate weekly blocks
Tier 1 covers leave taken while the baby receives neonatal care or within seven days after that care ends. Employees can take tier 1 leave in separate blocks of at least one week.
They can only take leave that has already accrued. The first qualifying seven-day period must therefore finish before neonatal care leave begins.
If qualifying care continues at home after discharge, use its end date when identifying the tier 1 period.
Tier 2 is one continuous block
Tier 2 leave covers any time outside tier 1. Any remaining entitlement taken as tier 2 leave must be one continuous block.
All leave must finish within 68 weeks of birth. For adoption, the relevant starting point is placement, or entry into Great Britain for an overseas adoption.
Neonatal care leave can’t interrupt maternity leave, paternity leave, adoption leave or another period of statutory family leave already underway. It follows that leave instead.
Coordinate shared parental leave dates with neonatal care leave and put every block on one schedule. Where shared parental leave arrangements apply, the neonatal deadline doesn’t extend the deadlines for other family leave.
How much is statutory neonatal care pay?
Apply the service and earnings tests separately
To qualify for statutory neonatal care pay, an employee must have 26 weeks continuous service by the end of the relevant qualifying week.
For birth cases linked to statutory maternity or paternity pay, that is the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth. Adoption and other cases have different relevant-week rules.
The employee must also meet the earnings test. The lower earnings limit for 2026/27 is £129 a week, assessed using average earnings over the relevant period.
Failing the pay test doesn’t remove an eligible employee’s right to leave. Record an unpaid entitlement rather than rejecting the whole request.
Calculate the weekly payment
For 2026/27, neonatal care pay is the lower of the statutory flat rate of £194.32 or 90% of average weekly earnings, for up to 12 qualifying weeks.
These calculations show how the cap works for an eligible employee.
| Average weekly earnings | 90% of earnings | Weekly statutory pay |
|---|---|---|
| £150 | £135 | £135 |
| £400 | £360 | £194.32 |
Higher earnings don’t increase statutory pay beyond the weekly cap. The 2026/27 employer rates confirm the statutory figure.
Pay goes through payroll with the usual tax and National Insurance treatment. An enhanced company policy may provide more.
Neonatal pay is separate from statutory maternity pay. An eligible employee can receive it during neonatal leave after maternity leave ends, even though maternity pay has already finished.
What notice must employees give?
The notice period varies by leave tier and when the employee takes leave. Asking every parent for 28 days’ notice would apply the wrong rule during an immediate neonatal-care situation.
Use these periods when recording the request.
| Leave period | Notice for leave |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | By the time work is due to start on the first day of each leave week, or as soon as reasonably practicable |
| Tier 2, one week | At least 15 days before leave starts |
| Tier 2, two or more weeks, 28 days notice | At least 28 days before leave starts |
Tier 1 leave notice doesn’t have to be written. Tier 2 notice must be written. Employers can agree to waive notice requirements.
Your notice checklist should capture:
- The employee’s name, the baby’s date of birth and the neonatal care start date.
- The care end date, where known, the requested leave start date and the number of weeks.
- Confirmation that the employee meets the relationship and caring-responsibility conditions.
Don’t demand a discharge date while care is continuing. Record it when it becomes known.
Pay has its own notice requirements. For tier 1 pay, written notice is normally due within 28 days beginning with the first day of the pay week claimed. The government’s employer guide covers leave and pay administration.
What employment protection continues?
Keep benefits and return rights in place
Holiday continues to accrue during neonatal care leave. Contractual benefits generally continue, apart from normal wages where statutory or contractual pay rules apply.
Employees mustn’t suffer detriment or dismissal because they take or seek to take the leave. Keep this protected absence out of negative attendance decisions.
Employees normally return to the same job. After certain longer combinations of family leave, a suitable alternative can apply where returning to the original job isn’t reasonably practicable.
Apply redundancy priority correctly
An employee who takes at least six consecutive weeks of neonatal care leave gains extended redundancy protection. It runs until 18 months after birth, placement or entry into Great Britain, as applicable.
Where their role is redundant, you must offer a suitable available alternative vacancy in preference to employees without that protection. This isn’t immunity from a genuine redundancy process.
The Acas guidance on employee protections explains the distinction. Keep the protected-period dates with your redundancy records, not just in the absence calendar.
Frequently asked questions
What covers the first seven days?
Neonatal care leave isn’t available until the first seven full qualifying days have accrued. During that initial period, maternity leave, paternity leave, adoption leave or parental leave may cover the absence if the employee qualifies.
Emergency time off for dependants can cover reasonable time needed to deal with an emergency or arrange care. It isn’t automatically paid and doesn’t provide an unlimited absence allowance.
Your policy can provide paid compassionate leave alongside the statutory options. Tell managers which absence category to record.
What happens if the baby dies?
A baby’s death doesn’t remove neonatal care leave already accrued. Separate parental bereavement leave may also apply, with its own notice and pay conditions.
Keep the entitlements separate and agree sensitive contact arrangements. Asking a bereaved employee to repeat the same information to their manager, human resources and payroll adds an avoidable burden.
Keep leave, payroll and decisions together
Give managers a clear neonatal leave policy for receiving requests, recording neonatal care dates and passing information to payroll. Record each neonatal care leave request, and keep leave and pay decisions separate so failing one eligibility test doesn’t wrongly remove another entitlement.
We’re employment law specialists, and our employment protection solution was created by award-winning lawyers. It combines HR consultancy, software, learning and insurance-backed tribunal cover up to £250,000, subject to policy terms and following our advice.
Book an intro call to discuss keeping family-leave advice, absence records and payroll decisions connected before the next request arrives.