The NEONATAL CARE (LEAVE AND PAY) ACT 2024 received Royal Assent in May 2023 and is expected to come into force for the new tax year.

The act gives a new statutory right to paid leave for parents who have a child placed in neonatal care within the first 28 days after the child’s birth. The pay and leave will apply when the child has been in such care for one or more weeks (up to 12 weeks) within the first 68 weeks of the child’s life.

Further regulations are required to define how the act applies over separated weeks of neonatal care, the statutory pay rate and protected rights, the type of parental relationship where the right will apply, the type of care that falls under the act, the terms where more than one child is in neonatal care, the notice and medical evidence requirements for the leave and the employment relationships where the statutory right will apply.