If your baby needs neonatal care soon after birth, an eligible employee in England, Scotland or Wales may take up to 12 weeks of Neonatal Care Leave. A separate Statutory Neonatal Care Pay claim may be available if you meet the service and earnings tests. The two entitlements are connected, but their eligibility rules are not identical. The right applies to babies born on or after 6 April 2025.
One week for each seven full days
Leave and pay have different tests
Notice depends on the timing
What counts and how much leave
Neonatal care must begin in the first 28 days after birth and can include hospital care, qualifying consultant-led care after discharge with ongoing hospital-arranged checks, or palliative or end-of-life care. A baby must receive care for at least seven full and continuous days before leave accrues. Each seven-day period gives one week, up to 12 weeks in total.
The leave must be taken within 68 weeks of the birth. It is additional to other parental leave and pay. If you are taking maternity or adoption leave when the baby enters neonatal care, Neonatal Care Leave follows that leave. Other sequencing rules apply if you are taking paternity or Shared Parental Leave, so confirm the dates before booking.
Who qualifies for leave and pay
To qualify for Neonatal Care Leave, you must be an employee employed in England, Scotland or Wales, be the baby’s parent or the mother’s partner with caring responsibility, and take the leave to care for the baby. There is no minimum length of service for the leave right. Special rules also cover adoption, overseas adoption notification and intended parents through surrogacy.
Statutory Neonatal Care Pay has additional conditions. GOV.UK says you normally need 26 weeks’ continuous employment by the end of the applicable qualifying week, average earnings of at least £129 a week before tax over the relevant eight-week period, and continued employment through the week before pay starts. The qualifying week differs depending on whether you are also claiming Maternity Pay, Paternity Pay or Statutory Adoption Pay. Ask payroll to confirm which reference week and earnings window apply.
The published 2026/27 statutory rate is £194.32 a week or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. The payment is made through payroll with the usual tax and National Insurance deductions. An employer may offer more under its own policy. Eligibility for leave does not by itself guarantee statutory pay.
When and how to tell your employer
You claim through your employer and must give notice before taking leave and pay. Notice rules depend on whether you take it during neonatal care or in the first week after discharge (Tier 1), or more than a week after discharge (Tier 2).
For Tier 1, tell the employer on the day you want leave to start, ideally before your normal start time or as soon as you can afterwards. Phone, voicemail or text is acceptable for the leave notice. If you need another week, tell the employer again by the end of the preceding week. Give notice of the pay claim in writing within 28 days after leave starts. Tell the employer the discharge date as soon as possible.
For Tier 2, give written notice 15 days before a single week, or 28 days before a block of two or more weeks. Tier 1 leave may be taken in separate blocks of at least one week. Tier 2 leave must be taken as one continuous block.
For the leave claim, give your name, baby’s birth or placement details, the neonatal-care start and end dates, when you want leave to begin and how many weeks you plan to take. For pay and leave, confirm that you will care for the baby and that you meet the parent/partner condition. GOV.UK provides the NEO3 declaration form, or your employer may use its own process. Keep the forms and written confirmations.
A practical claim sequence
- 1Confirm the baby’s birth or placement date and count each full, continuous seven-day neonatal-care period.
- 2Ask payroll which qualifying week, eight-week earnings period and employment-status evidence apply to the pay claim.
- 3Tell the employer using the Tier 1 or Tier 2 method and deadline that matches your intended leave dates.
- 4Submit the required baby, care-period and caring-responsibility details, plus the NEO3 declaration or employer form.
- 5Check the payroll amount and planned leave sequence against maternity, adoption, paternity or Shared Parental Leave where relevant.
For one planned block, the Neonatal Care Leave Planner can lay out the Tier 1 or Tier 2 employer-notice reminder and the 68-week reference date. It uses the leave balance confirmed by your employer; it does not decide leave or statutory-pay eligibility, count neonatal-care days, or estimate a payment. Baby and leave dates stay in the page session and are not placed in a shareable URL.
Job rights and Northern Ireland
Employment rights are protected during Neonatal Care Leave. This includes accruing holiday, pay rises and the right to return to work. If you disagree with an employer’s Statutory Neonatal Care Pay decision, raise it with payroll first. If it cannot be resolved, GOV.UK directs employees to HMRC’s Statutory Payments Dispute Team within six months of the decision.
This guide covers Great Britain only. GOV.UK explicitly limits the leave eligibility to employees working in England, Scotland or Wales. If you work in Northern Ireland, read the Northern Ireland neonatal-care leave and pay guide: the NI Department lists a similar measure as a proposal, and the GB Act does not create an NI entitlement. Do not assume that the Great Britain statutory leave or pay rules apply.
For related birth-parent or partner entitlements, see the Great Britain Maternity Leave guide, Paternity Leave guide and unpaid Parental Leave guide. The UK maternity and paternity pay comparison covers those separate payment schemes.