Neonatal Care Leave & Pay Policy - April 2025

5. Amount and Timing of Leave

Amount of neonatal care leave you can take

The amount of neonatal care leave that you can take is one week for every week your child has spent in neonatal care without interruption.  A week is defined as a period of seven days starting from the day after the neonatal care began.

In cases specifically related to adoption, your entitlement begins either after the child has been placed for adoption (for adoptions within the UK) or after the child has entered Great Britain (for adoptions from overseas). 

The maximum number of weeks that you can take as neonatal care leave is capped at 12 weeks.

Any neonatal care leave must be taken in blocks of at least one week.

You can take only up to 12 weeks' neonatal care leave, even if multiple children from the same pregnancy require neonatal care.

Timing of neonatal care leave

You can start your leave on any day after your child has received seven days of uninterrupted neonatal care.

The seven days are counted from the day after the neonatal care started. For example, if your child's started receiving neonatal care on 7 April, the seven-day count begins on 8 April. This means that you can start your neonatal care leave on any day from 15 April.

Any neonatal care leave must end within 68 weeks of your child's date of birth.

The right to neonatal care leave is in addition to any other statutory leave that you may be entitled to, such as maternity, adoption, paternity, ordinary parental, parental bereavement or shared parental leave

How neonatal care leave may be taken

Neonatal care leave is available to take in two tiers:

•    The "tier 1 period" begins when your child starts receiving neonatal care and ends on the seventh day after your child is discharged. If you take neonatal care leave in the tier 1 period, you can take it in one continuous block or a number of non-continuous blocks of a minimum of one week at a time.

•    The "tier 2 period" is any remaining period (within 68 weeks after your child's date of birth) that is not part of the tier 1 period. if you take neonatal care leave during the tier 2 period, you must take the leave in one continuous block.

You should be aware that the relevant notice requirements differ depending on whether you take your leave in the tier 1 or tier 2 period (see below).