The Statutory Neonatal Care Pay (Persons Abroad and Mariners) Regulations 2025
Citation, commencement and extent1.
(1)
These Regulations may be cited as the Statutory Neonatal Care Pay (Persons Abroad and Mariners) Regulations 2025.
(2)
These Regulations come into force on 6 April 2025.
(3)
These Regulations extend to England and Wales and Scotland.
Interpretation2.
(1)
In these Regulations—
“the Act” means the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;
“foreign-going ship” means any ship or vessel which is not a home-trade ship;
“home-trade ship” includes—
(a)
every ship or vessel employed in trading or going within the following limits—
- (i)
the United Kingdom (including for this purpose the Republic of Ireland),
- (ii)
the Channel Islands,
- (iii)
the Isle of Man, and
- (iv)
the continent of Europe between the river Elbe and Brest inclusive;
(b)
every fishing vessel not proceeding beyond the following limits—
- (i)
on the South, Latitude 48°30′N,
- (ii)
on the West, Longitude 12°W, and
- (iii)
on the North, Latitude 61°N;
“mariner” means a person who is or has been in employment under a contract of service either as a master or member of the crew of any ship or vessel, or in any other capacity on board any ship or vessel where—
(a)
the employment in that other capacity is for the purposes of that ship or vessel or its crew or any passengers or cargo or mails carried by the ship or vessel, and
(b)
the contract is entered into in the United Kingdom with a view to its performance (in whole or in part) while the ship or vessel is on its voyage,
but does not include a person insofar as their employment is as a serving member of HM’s forces;
(a)
M is under the age of 16,
(b)
M is committing an offence under section 8 of the Armed Forces Act 2006 (desertion),
(c)
the force concerned is one of His Majesty’s (“HM’s”) naval forces which M locally entered at an overseas base without previously being—
- (i)an insured person under the National Insurance Act 19655, or
- (ii)
a contributor under the Act, or
(d)
the force concerned is one of HM’s military forces or HM’s air forces which M entered, or was recruited for, outside the United Kingdom and—
- (i)
where that force is one of HM’s military forces, the depot for M’s unit is outside the United Kingdom, or
- (ii)
where that force is one of HM’s air forces, M is liable under the terms of M’s engagement to serve only in a specified area outside the United Kingdom;
“statutory neonatal care pay” means statutory neonatal care pay payable in accordance with the provisions of Part 12ZE of the Act where the conditions specified in section 171ZZ16(2) of the Act are satisfied.
(2)
For the purposes of these Regulations, the expressions “ship” and “ship or vessel” include hovercraft, except in regulation 9(2).
Application3.
These Regulations apply in relation to children who are born on or after 6th April 2025.
Restriction on scope4.
A person who would not be treated under regulation 14 (treatment of persons as employees) of the general regulations as an employee for the purposes of Part 12ZE (statutory neonatal care pay) of the Act if that person’s employment were in Great Britain will not be treated as an employee under these Regulations.
Treatment of persons in EEA states as employees5.
A person who is—
(a)
gainfully employed in an EEA state in such circumstances that, if the employment were in Great Britain, the person would be an employee for the purposes of Part 12ZE of the Act, or a person treated as such an employee under regulation 14 of the general regulations, and
(b)
subject to the legislation of the United Kingdom under
(i)
(ii)
as those instruments apply in the European Economic Area from time to time,
notwithstanding that person not being employed in Great Britain, is to be treated as an employee for the purposes of Part 12ZE of the Act.
Treatment of certain persons absent from Great Britain as employees6.
Entitlement to statutory neonatal care pay where person has worked in an EEA state in the 26 weeks preceding the relevant week7.
(1)
A person who—
(a)
is an employee or treated as an employee under regulation 5,
(b)
in the relevant week, was in employed earner’s employment with an employer in Great Britain, and
(c)
had, in any week within the period of 26 weeks ending with the relevant week, been employed by the same employer in an EEA state,
is to be treated for the purposes of section 171ZZ16 of the Act (entitlement to statutory neonatal care pay) as having been employed in employed earner’s employment with an employer in those weeks in which the person was so employed in the EEA state.
(2)
In paragraph (1), “relevant week” has the same meaning as in section 171ZZ16(6) of the Act.
Time for compliance with Part 12ZE of the Act or regulations made under it8.
Where—
(a)
a person is outside the United Kingdom,
(b)
Part 12ZE of the Act or regulations made under it require any act to be done forthwith or on the happening of a certain event or within a specified time, and
(c)
because the person is outside the United Kingdom that person or that person’s employer cannot comply with the requirement,
the person or the employer, as the case may be, will be deemed to have complied with the requirement if the act is performed as soon as reasonably practicable.
Mariners9.
(1)
A mariner engaged in employment on board a home-trade ship with an employer who has a place of business within the United Kingdom will be treated as an employee for the purposes of Part 12ZE of the Act, notwithstanding that the mariner may not be employed in Great Britain.
(2)
A mariner who is engaged in employment—
(a)
on a foreign-going ship, or
(b)
on a home-trade ship with an employer who does not have a place of business within the United Kingdom,
will not be treated as an employee for the purposes of Part 12ZE of the Act, notwithstanding that the mariner may have been employed in Great Britain.
Continental shelf10.
(1)
In this regulation—
(a)
(b)
(2)
A person in prescribed employment will be treated as an employee for the purposes of Part 12ZE of the Act notwithstanding that that person may not be employed in Great Britain.
These Regulations relate to the treatment under Part 12ZE of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (“the Act”) of persons abroad, persons who work as mariners and persons who work on the continental shelf. The effect is that certain persons who would otherwise not fulfil the qualifying conditions for entitlement to statutory neonatal care pay because of the nature of their employment or the fact that they are outside the United Kingdom will have an entitlement to such pay.
Regulation 4 limits the application of the Regulations to cases where the person would be treated as an employee under Part 12ZE of the Act if the employment were in Great Britain.
Regulation 5 provides for a person employed in a State of the European Economic Area but subject to the legislation of the United Kingdom to be treated as an employee for the purposes of Part 12ZE.
Regulation 6 provides for a person who is absent from Great Britain but in respect of whom an employer has secondary Class 1 national insurance contribution liability to be treated as an employee for the purposes of the Part 12ZE.
Where a person has worked for the same employer both in Great Britain and in a State of the European Economic Area, regulation 7 provides, in specified circumstances, for employment in the Member State to be treated as employed earner’s employment for the purposes of Part 12ZE.
Regulation 8 relaxes any time limit imposed by Part 12ZE of the Act or regulations made under it in relation to a person who cannot comply with the time limit because that person is outside the United Kingdom.
Regulation 9 treats certain classes of mariners as employees for the purposes of Part 12ZE and regulation 10 makes corresponding provision for persons working on the continental shelf.
A separate impact assessment has not been prepared for these Regulations. The Regulations are part of a package of legislative measures and the relevant impact assessment is the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 impact assessment which was published on 23 January 2023. A copy of that impact assessment can be obtained from the Department for Business and Trade, Old Admiralty Building, London, SW1A 2PA.