There is a change coming into force on 6th April that could affect any business. This is why it is a good idea to have your own company policy which covers leave and pay for parents whose baby requires neonatal care (that’s hospital treatment in the days immediately after birth).
The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 comes into force, introducing a new statutory leave as a day one employment right, and pay for employees who have at least 26 weeks’ continuous service with you by the relevant week (which is 15 weeks prior to the expected week of birth, or in the case of an adoption, the week they are notified of a match), and are earning at least the National Insurance Lower Earnings Limit – £125 a week as of April.
The leave and care will sit alongside other statutory entitlements like maternity and sickness, and so there are a number of things that you as an SME employer will have to do to prepare.
Neonatal care leave and pay in focus
Let’s look in a little more detail at what is involved with this neonatal care leave and pay.
As we have said, the leave component is a day one right, and is triggered if a baby up to 28 days old is admitted to hospital for a continuous stay of seven days or longer. It is not hard to imagine that this will be a very stressful and emotional time for any parents involved.
The entitlement extends to birth parents, adoptive or prospective adoptive parents, intended parents through surrogacy, and a partner of a baby’s mother or primary adopter (if they live together in an enduring family relationship).
They will be entitled to take up to 12 weeks off in blocks of a week for each week that their baby is in hospital. This leave needs to be taken within 68 weeks of the baby’s birth and is in addition to any other statutory leaves like paternity or maternity leave. There are two tiers of leave: Tier 1 for leave concurrent with the care, and Tier 2 for leave after the care is complete, which have slightly different rules from each other.
If they qualify for neonatal care pay, this will be payable at £187.18 per week, unless you choose to pay them more.
Employees will enjoy the same protections from things like dismissal and detriment because they took leave, as they would from other family leaves.
Neonatal care leave and pay: the basic preparations
As a starting point, you will need to review your company handbook to ensure it reflects this law change.
You’ll also need to update your payroll systems if this is not done automatically by a third party provider to ensure that they can process the leave and pay should it be invoked.
With these first steps completed, you will want to ensure you and any managers are fully aware of the requirements and know how to support staff who need to use the leave and pay.
It will also be sensible to communicate the availability of neonatal care leave and pay to staff. It will be hoped that they never require it, but neonatal care needs are relatively common – it is thought up to 60,000 parents may benefit from the introduction of this entitlement. At a difficult time, having foreknowledge of the support will be one less thing for them to worry about.
Fostering a supportive culture
Businesses which create a supportive culture, see benefits through staff loyalty, increased productivity, easier recruitment and a better day-to-day environment. Embracing this statutory change is another way in which you can demonstrate a supportive culture to your team: they may never need it; but whether they do or not, it shows that you care.
Staying on top of the latest employment law
If you would like help preparing a neonatal care leave and pay policy and form, please get in touch.
This is just one example of the dynamic nature of employment law. If you worry that you cannot keep up, why not talk to us about our Advice Line? For a low monthly fee you get unlimited telephone and email advice, plus all your policies updated automatically when needed.
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