Employment support

• Families find their costs go up just as their income falls because of starting parental leave. The average additional cost, for families responding to a Bliss survey was £405 per week while their baby was in hospital.

• In 7 in 10 families with a neonatal stay over 4 weeks, at least one parent (usually dads and non-birthing parents) return to work while their baby is still sick in hospital.

• Mothers and birthing parents use up much of their entitlement before their babies are home and often return to work earlier than intended due to financial pressure.
• Some mothers and birthing parents have no choice but to leave their jobs to care for their babies, who may have ongoing appointments and follow-up during their first year as a result of their neonatal stay.

Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act

Bliss has campaigned for and supported a new entitlement to additional paid leave from work when a baby is in neonatal care, which will be available to parents who qualify from April 2025.

• Both parents will be allowed up to 12 weeks of paid leave, in addition to other leave entitlements such as maternity and paternity leave.
• Neonatal leave will be available to employees from their first day in a new job and will apply to both parents of babies who are admitted into hospital up to the age of 28 days, and who have a continuous stay in hospital of 7 full days or more.

You can read more about this campaign on our recent successes page.

Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act

Bliss supported the implementation of a new entitlement to two weeks paid parental bereavement leave which was introduced in April 2020.

All employed parents are entitled to two weeks paid time off work if their baby or child dies, or their baby is stillborn. We have more information on bereavement support if you need it.

You can read more about this campaign on our recent successes page.

While nearly 60,000 parents will be eligible for neonatal care leave and pay every year, parents who are self-employed or who have a worker employment status will not qualify.

We continue to campaign for employment support for parents who won't benefit from the new entitlement. In October, we published a briefing on this issue to help us take action on this issue in Parliament. Read the policy briefing here.

Get updated on our campaigns and tangible actions you can take to help by joining our campaign network.

As an employer

While parents won’t be able to claim neonatal care leave and pay until April 2025, employers can introduce the policy more quickly for their employees.

We have collaborated with HR specialists and employers to provide guidance on how you can provide this vital support now.

As an employee

We know that for many families this change won’t happen quickly enough.

You can use our letter of support to help encourage your employer to make a difference to families now.