There are upcoming changes to family-related leave that will come into effect from 6 April 2025. These changes introduce additional leave and pay entitlements for eligible employees whose babies require neonatal care.
What’s changing?
From 6 April 2025, eligible employees will be entitled to:
- Up to 12 weeks of neonatal leave for babies who spend at least seven continuous days in neonatal care within the first 28 days of birth.
- Statutory Neonatal Pay (SNP) for eligible employees during their leave, subject to qualifying conditions.
- Additional employment protections, including protection from unfair dismissal or detrimental treatment for exercising their right.
Further details
The leave will be available as a day-one right, meaning employees will be entitled to this leave regardless of their length of service. The right applies to individuals with a parental or significant personal relationship to a baby, born on or after 6 April 2025, who is receiving neonatal care. Eligible parents can take leave for each week their baby is in the hospital, up to a maximum of twelve weeks. This leave must be used within sixty-eight weeks of the baby’s birth (or placement or entry to Great Britain in adoption cases).
To qualify for Statutory Neonatal Pay (SNP), an employee must have worked for you for at least twenty-six weeks before requesting leave and must have earned at least £125 per week on average, similar to existing family-related leave entitlements.
Employees taking neonatal leave will benefit from the same protections as those on other types of family-related leave. This includes protection from dismissal or detriment as a result of taking their leave. Employees will remain entitled to their existing terms and conditions (except for pay) during their leave. Additionally, those who take six or more consecutive weeks of neonatal leave will benefit from extended redundancy protection rights, ensuring they have the right to return to their job or be offered a suitable alternative, depending on when they return.
What does this mean for your business?
With these changes approaching, it’s important to ensure your business is prepared. Updating your policies and procedures in line with the new legislation will help you manage leave requests effectively and remain compliant.
We recommend:
- Reviewing your family leave policies to ensure they incorporate neonatal leave entitlements.
- Ensuring your payroll systems are set up to manage Statutory Neonatal Pay.
- Planning for potential staff absences when neonatal leave is taken.
- Training your management teams to handle neonatal leave requests appropriately.
If you have any questions in the meantime or would like to discuss how this may impact your business, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Author: Sarah Mayes
