Neonatal Care Leave and Pay

A smiling mum is seated holding their baby. The second smiling mum is standing next to them, holding their baby's hand.

When a baby is born needing neonatal care, the last thing parents should be worrying about is work – but this is exactly the situation many find themselves in.

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.

Click here for information about your parental leave and pay entitlement

The issue

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.

I had to attend work shifts because I couldn’t afford to keep losing money, which meant I couldn’t be with him and was often in another city to him.

Dad to a baby who spent time in neonatal care in 2021

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.

I started maternity leave straight away but it meant it ended sooner than I wanted once my son was discharged. I ended up having 6 months off sick as I couldn’t face leaving him...

Mother of a baby who spent 20 weeks in neonatal care.

What have we been up to?

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.

What are we doing next?

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.

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Hear the latest about our campaigns and help make a difference to babies born premature or sick and their families.

How can you get involved?

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.