Statutory Neonatal Care Pay and Leave: employer guide
Eligibility
An employee must qualify for Neonatal Care Leave and Statutory Neonatal Care Pay both as a parent with caring responsibility for the baby, and as an employee.
In England, Scotland and Wales, they can get up to 12 weeks’ pay and leave if their baby:
- was born on or after 6 April 2025
- spends 7 days or more in neonatal care in a row
To get both leave and pay, the employee must be classed as an employee - this means they have an employment contract.
An employee may be eligible if they are taking leave and pay to care for the baby and they are also either:
- the baby’s parent (biological, adoptive or of a child born to a surrogate) and have caring responsibility for the baby
- the partner of the baby’s mother, with shared caring responsibilities
If the employee or their partner is an adoptive parent
An employee may be eligible for leave and pay if they are taking the leave to care for the child and either of the following apply:
- the child has been placed with them for adoption (or they’ve been approved for adoption)
- they are the partner of the adopter and have shared caring responsibilities
An employee may be eligible if they or their partner are adopting a baby from overseas and:
- they will have caring responsibility for the baby
- the baby has been placed with them
- they have the ‘official notification’ confirming they’re allowed to adopt
If the employee had the child with the help of a surrogate
An employee is eligible if they both:
- have responsibility for the upbringing of the child
- apply for a parental order within 6 months of the child’s birth
Neonatal Care Leave
Employees are eligible from the first day of their employment.
Statutory Neonatal Care Pay
The employee must have been employed for at least 26 weeks up to the end of the ‘qualifying week’.
If your employee is already entitled to Maternity or Paternity Pay, this is the 15th week before the baby is due. If they’re already entitled to Statutory Adoption Pay, it’s the week the employee was told they’d been matched with the baby for adoption.
Otherwise, the qualifying week is the week immediately before the baby enters neonatal care.
They must also:
- remain employed up to the week before they claim the pay entitlement
- earn on average at least £125 a week (before tax) over an 8-week period