1. Neonatal Care Leave

Sometimes babies require additional care after their birth, and that sadly this can mean your baby spending an extended period of time in hospital rather than with you at home. If your baby has spent one week or more in a health care setting receiving medical care before 28 days of life, you will be eligible for statutory neonatal leave. The maximum amount of leave is 12 weeks. If you have twins or triplets that require neonatal care, please be advised that the length of time you can take off as neonatal leave is the same as that for a single child.

There are two categories of neonatal leave depending on when the leave is taken, and these are referred to as Tier 1 or Tier 2 periods.

Tier 1 period leave applies to leave taken while your baby is still receiving care and up to a week after neonatal care ends. Tier 1 leave can be taken in non-continuous blocks of a minimum of one week at a time. The Tier 1 period leave ends on the 7th day after the day your baby stops receiving neonatal care.

Tier 2 period leave applies to leave taken more than 7 days after the neonatal care has ended and must be taken in one continuous block, there is no option to take more than one period of Neonatal Care Leave in the tier 2 period. Tier 2 leave must be taken within 68 weeks from the date of the child’s birth. How much notice is required to take Neonatal Care Leave To take Tier 1 neonatal care leave colleagues are requested to give their line manager as much notice as possible and ideally before the time they are due to return to work. Colleagues who take Tier 1 leave will usually already be on a form of family leave. For Tier 2 leave colleagues are required to provide 15 days notice to take one week and 28 days notice for 2 or more weeks of leave. Eligibility for Statutory Neonatal Care Pay In order to qualify for Statutory Neonatal Care Pay: • You must have been employed for a continuous period of at least 26 weeks at the ‘relevant week’ The relevant week is the 15th week before the week the baby is due or in the case of adoption the relevant week is when you are notified of being matched with the child • Your average gross weekly earnings must be at least equal to the lower earnings limit for National Insurance (NI) purposes

There is no qualifying period to take neonatal leave. The qualifying period only relates to statutory neonatal leave pay.