A word from our founder: Considering parents and neonatal care leave

  • Employment Law
parent holding baby's hand

Peter Done, Group Managing Director and Founder

(Last updated )

In January, it was confirmed that as of 6th April 2025, eligible employees will have the right to a new paid leave entitlement.

From this date, employees who have a child in neonatal care will be entitled to take up to 12 weeks of neonatal care leave if they meet certain qualifying criteria.

Employees will have this entitlement from day one on the job. (It’s important to note this will be an additional statutory entitlement on top of any maternity and paternity leave allowances.)

What is neonatal leave?

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The idea behind this new type of leave is to help employees preserve other family leave entitlements, like maternity or paternity leave. So, they don’t have to dip into these allowances if they do have a child in neonatal care until after the 12 week mark.

While this might not be something you need to think about for any of your staff just yet, it’s important to be aware of how this new right works and how it could affect any of your employees in the future.

Who can take neonatal leave?

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To prepare for when this new law lands, our HR documentation experts here at Peninsula have been working to craft legally robust policies, letter templates and key guidance to support our clients.

And as always, if there are any changes to the new legislation before it goes live, our experts will be ready to share any further updates with you too.

So bear with us as we’ll have more to share in the coming month. But if you have any questions as always, give us a call. We’re here to offer 24-hour advice, so take advantage of your unlimited support.

And if you’re not currently a Peninsula client but you have a question about this new right and the impact on your existing HR documents, you can also speak to an adviser free.

Just tap below to arrange a callback:

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We’ll be in touch with more information soon. But in the meantime, do reach out for support if you have any queries at all. It’s what we’re here for!

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