Neonatal care leave: the employer checklist for leave, pay and notice

Start with support, then establish the statutory facts

Neonatal Care Leave applies in England, Scotland and Wales for babies born on or after 6 April 2025. It is available from the first day of employment, even where statutory pay is unavailable.

The baby must enter neonatal care within 28 days of birth and spend at least seven consecutive days receiving it. Qualifying care can include hospital care, certain consultant-supervised medical care after discharge with ongoing hospital-arranged monitoring, and palliative or end-of-life care.

The employee must be caring for the baby and meet the parental or caring-responsibility test. This can include a biological or adoptive parent, an intended parent after surrogacy, or the mother's partner with shared responsibility. Check sensitively without demanding unnecessary clinical detail.

GOV.UK: employer overview of Neonatal Care Leave and Pay ↗

Leave and pay are separate entitlements

An eligible employee can receive Neonatal Care Leave regardless of length of service. Statutory Neonatal Care Pay has additional employment and earnings conditions. An employee may therefore qualify for protected leave but not statutory pay.

For pay, the employee generally needs 26 weeks' continuous employment by the qualifying week, must remain employed until the week before pay starts and meet the average-earnings threshold. The qualifying week varies according to whether maternity, paternity or adoption pay applies.

Confirm in writing whether leave is accepted, how many weeks have accrued, whether statutory pay applies, what remains outstanding and when the arrangement will be reviewed. Do not describe unpaid statutory leave as discretionary absence.

GOV.UK: eligibility for Neonatal Care Leave and Pay ↗

Calculate the leave in complete qualifying weeks

The employee accrues one week of Neonatal Care Leave for each uninterrupted period of seven full days that the baby spends in neonatal care, up to 12 weeks. Part-weeks do not create another week of entitlement. All leave must be taken within 68 weeks of the baby's birth.

Keep a running record. If a baby receives 24 consecutive full days of qualifying care, the employee accrues three weeks; the remaining days are not rounded up. If care restarts, each period must satisfy the rules.

Where twins or other multiple births receive care at the same time, the overlapping period does not create double leave. Different non-overlapping periods may qualify, but the employee's total remains capped at 12 weeks.

Distinguish urgent Tier 1 leave from planned Tier 2 leave

Tier 1 is leave taken while the baby is receiving neonatal care or during the first week after that care ends. It can be taken in separate blocks of at least one week, which gives the family flexibility while the medical position is changing.

Tier 2 begins more than one week after neonatal care ends. Any remaining entitlement must normally be taken in one continuous block. A manager cannot apply Tier 2's longer planning rules to an urgent Tier 1 absence.

Neonatal Care Leave is additional to other statutory family leave and must follow maternity or adoption leave. Its interaction with paternity and shared parental leave depends on timing, so map the whole timeline rather than overlapping entitlements.

Apply the correct notice rules

For Tier 1 leave, the employee should give notice as soon as possible, ideally before their normal start time. Leave notice can be given by phone, voicemail or text; notice for statutory pay must be confirmed in writing within 28 days. The employer can waive the leave-notice requirement.

For Tier 2, an employee requesting one week must normally give 15 days' notice. For two or more weeks, at least 28 days' notice is required, and the request should be in writing. Record the start date, number of weeks and how the period fits with any other family leave.

Record the employee's name, the baby's birth date, neonatal-care dates, requested leave and confirmation that it is for caring purposes. Do not demand information the rules do not require.

GOV.UK: neonatal leave and pay notice rules ↗

Process pay using the current rate and keep the evidence

For 2026/27, Statutory Neonatal Care Pay is £194.32 a week or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. Tax and National Insurance are deducted in the normal way. Employers can recover statutory payments through HMRC: the recovery percentage depends on the previous tax year's Class 1 National Insurance total.

Retain pay-period dates, amounts, any unpaid claimed weeks and the reason. Keep the caring-responsibility declaration, the baby's name and neonatal-care dates. HMRC requires these records for three years after the relevant tax year ends.

If statutory pay is refused, notify the employee within 28 days of receiving their pay notice and explain why. HMRC's NEO1 form can be used. Payroll should use the official calculator where the qualifying week or average-earnings calculation is unclear.

GOV.UK: 2026/27 statutory payment rates ↗ · GOV.UK: neonatal pay record keeping ↗

Protect employment rights and manage the return

Employment rights continue during Neonatal Care Leave, including holiday accrual, contractual benefits other than normal remuneration, pay rises and protection on return. Detriment or dismissal because the employee took or sought the leave creates serious legal risk.

An employee on Neonatal Care Leave may have priority for a suitable alternative vacancy during redundancy. After six continuous weeks of leave, that protection can continue until 18 months after the birth; after a shorter period it generally lasts until return. Genuine redundancy remains possible, but vacancy handling changes.

Plan the return carefully. The employee may be managing appointments, feeding arrangements, sleep disruption or trauma. Discuss temporary flexibility and support without making assumptions about health or capability.

GOV.UK: employment rights during family leave ↗ · Related guide: small-business redundancy process →

Ten-point neonatal leave employer checklist

For a small employer, ownership matters more than a complicated form. Nominate who confirms eligibility, who calculates pay, who tracks other leave and who maintains contact. The process should provide certainty without making a family repeatedly explain a distressing medical situation.

• Respond supportively and identify an immediate contact for the employee.
• Confirm that the employee and neonatal care meet the statutory eligibility tests.
• Assess leave and statutory pay separately.
• Record each complete qualifying week and the 12-week maximum.
• Map the 68-week window and all other family-leave periods.
• Apply the urgent Tier 1 or planned Tier 2 notice rules correctly.
• Give payroll the qualifying-week, earnings and leave information it needs.
• Keep HMRC pay records and declarations for the required three years.
• Protect holiday, benefits, return-to-work and redundancy-vacancy rights.
• Update the family-leave policy and brief managers before the next request.