Statutory Right to Neonatal Leave and Pay from 6 April 2025

The right to leave for employees with babies in neonatal care will be available from day one of employment from 6 April 2025. The right to statutory pay during this time will be available to eligible employees who meet the service and earnings criteria. This comes after the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act (“NC(LP)A”) received Royal Assent in May 2023.

Employees will be entitled to statutory neonatal care leave (“SNCL”) under the NC(LP)A along with additional existing leave entitlements (maternity, paternity and shared parental leave). This could increase demand for flexible staffing solutions, as parents engaged in various sectors are able to take more time off. Employers will likely look to recruitment agencies to fill any short-term staffing shortages.

In order to take SNCL, parents must be employees and have a parental or other personal relationship with the child who is receiving, or has received, neonatal care. Employees will be entitled to take SNCL for a minimum period of one week and a maximum period of 12 weeks. SNCL must be taken within the first 68 weeks of the baby’s life.

On the surface, the criteria for SNCL appears fairly broad and accessible to many parents who need it. As a result, recruitment agencies might need to adapt their strategies to accommodate more parental leave scenarios. This could involve offering more specialised services relating to short-term contracts.

The statutory requirements for statutory neonatal care pay (“SNCP”) will be largely the same as that for SNCL. However, unlike SNCL which is a day-one right, an employee must fulfil the following criteria in order to be eligible for SNCP:

• Have at least 26 weeks' continuous service ending with the relevant week (the relevant week differs depending on the other statutory pay entitlements the employee may have).
• At the end of the relevant week, be entitled to be in that employment.
• Receive normal weekly earnings (the average weekly earnings which, in the relevant period, have been paid to the employee or paid for their benefit under the contract of service with the employer) for a period of 8 weeks ending with the relevant week of not less than the lower earnings limit (currently £123 a week) in force at the end of the relevant week.

As for the rate at which SNCP will be paid at, this will be determined by further regulations. The ‘NC(LP) Bill: Explanatory Notes’ suggests the rate will mirror that of statutory maternity pay i.e. the statutory rate or, if lower, 90% of the employee's average weekly earnings. The cost of providing SNCP may affect employers’ hiring decisions, especially in sectors with high staff turnover or tight profit margins. Recruitment agencies may need to advise companies on balancing the financial impact of this new policy with the need for talent acquisition