My baby was in neonatal care — what extra time off can I get?

This right exists because the previous system quietly punished the families with the hardest start: maternity and paternity leave were being spent sitting beside an incubator, and the parent went back to work having had no time at home with the baby at all. Neonatal care leave is additional to everything else. The practical catch is that you cannot be on two kinds of leave at once, so in most families the mother takes it at the end of maternity leave — months after the neonatal care itself.

Step by step

1. Check the baby's date of birth.The right applies where the child was born on or after 6 April 2025. Earlier births are not covered, however long the neonatal stay was.
2. Check the care qualifies.The baby must have started receiving neonatal care within 28 days of birth, and the care must have continued for at least seven continuous days. Neonatal care includes medical care in hospital and some care in other settings — check the definition on GOV.UK against your circumstances.
3. Work out the amount.One week of leave for each continuous week of care beyond the first seven days, up to a maximum of twelve weeks. Each parent has their own entitlement; it is not shared.
4. Check who qualifies.The leave is a day-one right for employees who are the child's parent or the parent's partner with responsibility for the child. Neonatal Care Pay needs 26 weeks' continuous service and average earnings at or above the lower earnings limit.
5. Understand tier one notice — during and just after the care.Leave taken while the baby is still receiving care, or in the week after it ends, is taken in weekly blocks which need not be continuous. Notice can be given verbally and as soon as reasonably practicable, and must be repeated for each further week.
6. Understand tier two notice — later.Leave taken more than a week after the care ends must be one continuous block, notified in writing: at least 15 days for one week, and 28 days for two or more.
7. Fit it around your other leave.You cannot take two kinds of statutory leave at the same time. In practice a mother on maternity leave takes neonatal care leave when the maternity leave ends. A partner can take tier-one weeks between blocks of paternity leave.
8. Use it within 68 weeks of the birth.That is the outer limit for taking all of it. Diarise the date, because for a mother adding twelve weeks to the end of 52 weeks of maternity leave it can be closer than it looks.
9. Northern Ireland: this right is not available.Neonatal care leave and pay apply in England, Wales and Scotland only. Northern Ireland has it as a proposal rather than as law. Check nidirect for the current position before relying on it.

Tips

• Write down the exact dates the neonatal care started and ended while you are in hospital. The entitlement is counted in continuous weeks and the dates matter later.
• Tell your employer early even if you will take the leave months later, so payroll can plan.
• Bliss and other neonatal charities have practical guidance on employment rights written for parents rather than for HR.

Common mistakes

• Assuming it can be taken at the same time as maternity leave — Two kinds of statutory leave cannot run concurrently, so it almost always lands at the end of maternity leave rather than during the hospital stay.
• Giving verbal notice for a later block — Verbal notice works only for tier one. Anything more than a week after the care ends needs written notice, 15 or 28 days ahead.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask