Policy background
- Whilst parents who have a child in neonatal care may be able to make use of other rights to family-related leave and pay (including maternity leave and pay, paternity leave and pay, adoption leave and pay, shared parental leave and pay and unpaid parental leave), there is currently no specific statutory entitlement to leave and/or pay for parents of children who require neonatal care.
- This has the result that parents of children who go into neonatal care currently have to spend a proportion of their existing family leave rights caring for the baby in the hospital. Some mothers report that they have had to leave work because they were not ready to return at the end of their maternity leave.
- As paternity leave is available for two weeks (and only to those fathers and partners who meet tests concerning continuity of service and minimum earnings), some fathers and partners have had to rely on statutory unpaid parental leave or compassionate leave in order to take time off work when their child was in hospital.
- Some fathers and partners have also had to take sickness absence as a result of their child being admitted to neonatal care. In 2018, Bliss (a charity for premature and sick babies) conducted a survey which showed that, in circumstances where a baby is kept in neonatal care for longer than two weeks, around 35% of fathers and partners were signed off sick.
- The Conservative Party Manifesto in 2019 stated: "We will legislate to allow parents to take extended leave for neonatal care, to support those new mothers and fathers who need it during the most vulnerable and stressful days of their lives".
- The Scottish National Party Manifesto in 2019 stated: "In addition, because we know the extra pressures that a baby in neonatal care creates for families, parents would receive an extra statutory paid week of leave for every week their baby is in neonatal care".
- The Queen’s Speech in December 2019 committed to introducing a new right to Neonatal Leave. In a section covering the main elements of an Employment Bill, it stated the Act would include: "Allowing parents to take extended leave for neonatal care…".
- The Government launched a stakeholder consultation on the introduction of Neonatal Leave and Pay on 19 July 2019 and the response was published on 16 March 2020.
- The Act will give eligible employed parents an additional right to time away from work in respect of their child who is receiving or has received neonatal care.
- It requires Regulations to give employed parents a ‘day one’ right to a minimum of one week of leave away from work, subject to certain criteria being met. This means that an employee would be eligible regardless of their length of service with their current employer.
- Employed parents would also be entitled to a statutory pay at a prescribed rate subject to requirements including that the employee has worked for their employer continuously for at least 26 weeks by the end of the week before the child’s admission into neonatal care.
- The introduction of a specific, statutory entitlement to Neonatal Care Leave and Pay will set a minimum standard for employees and employers. The intention of the policy is to provide certainty for employed parents and employers in relation to parents’ right to time off from work following the admission of a child into neonatal care. It also gives parents dedicated and protected time to spend with their baby whilst they are in hospital or other care settings which will be defined in Regulations.
