Additional paid leave to be granted to employees whose babies require neonatal care after birth…
Released On 22nd Jul 2022
What's New?
On Friday 15th July 2022, the Government backed the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill which provides additional paid leave to parents whose babies require neonatal care after birth. This will allow parents to spend additional time caring for their babies and assist with absolving the worry of returning to work or needing to take any unpaid leave.
Why is this important?
The Office for National Statistics reports than an estimated 100,000 babies across the UK are admitted to neonatal care each year, many of whom spend prolonged periods of time there following premature births or due to other health conditions.
Currently if an employee's baby goes into neonatal care, they are usually faced with a difficult decision of choosing whether to eat into their existing leave entitlement (whether that is maternity, paternity, or annual leave) or returning to work whilst their baby is still receiving care. The idea behind the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill, is that the introduction of Neonatal leave will help ease future pressures on employees and ensure both parents are able to share caring responsibilities.
What do you need to know?
Once passed as law, Neonatal Care Leave will be available to employees from their first day in a new job and will allow them to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave, in addition to other leave entitlements such as maternity and paternity leave.
It will apply to parents of babies who are admitted into hospital up to the age of 28 days and who have a continuous stay in hospital of 7 full days or more.
It doesn't appear that the amount of Neonatal pay has been confirmed, but it is likely to be set at a statutory amount which is usually based on the Lower Earnings Limit.
It is important to note that the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill is not yet law, but we expect it to be passed into law, soon.
What should you do?
When more details are available you may wish to put in place a Neonatal Leave and Pay policy to complement/supplement your existing family related policies; and as always, we are happy to draft such a policy for you - please just give us a call or send us an email!
