On 16 January 2025, the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 (Commencement No. 2) Regulations 2025 were made. The regulations brought into force on 17 January 2025 outstanding provisions of the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023, which received Royal Assent in May 2023 (see FC Feature 26 May 2023). The Act introduces a new statutory entitlement to neonatal care leave and pay with effect from 6 April 2025, subject to approval of the necessary implementing regulations which were laid before Parliament on 20 January 2025 (DBT Press Release).
The Act inserts a new Chapter 5 into Part VIII Employment Rights Act 1996, requiring the Secretary of State to make regulations creating an entitlement to leave as a day one right for eligible employees with a parental or other personal relationship with a child who is receiving, or who has received, neonatal care for a continuous period of at least seven days. The minimum leave entitlement will be one week, and the leave must be taken within 68 weeks of a child's birth.
The Act also amends the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 to create an entitlement to statutory neonatal care pay for eligible employees with 26 weeks of continuous employment.
The (as yet unpublished) regulations to be made under the Act must provide for the extent of the leave entitlement (including eligibility criteria) and state the duration of leave and when it can be taken, as well as employment rights during and after neonatal care leave. The regulations will also set the weekly statutory rates of neonatal care pay and the maximum entitlement to it, which must not be less than 12 weeks.
First published on the Employment News Service on 20 January 2025.
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