Neonatal leave and pay

Neonatal leave and pay is available to support employees whose children require neonatal care shortly after birth.  

Neonatal care leave

Neonatal care leave will apply to parents of babies who are admitted into hospital within 28 days of birth, and where the baby needs a continuous stay in hospital of 7 full days or more.  

Eligibility

This leave can be taken from the parent’s first day of employment, and applies to:

• biological parents
• adoptive parents
• intended parents in surrogacy arrangements
• the partner of the mother or adopter

How much time off you can take  

You can take up to 12 weeks of neonatal care leave, in addition to your existing maternity, paternity, adoption or shared parental leave entitlements.

Book neonatal care leave

You should inform your line manager as soon as possible if you need to take neonatal care leave.

If your baby is receiving care, you should inform your manager as soon as possible on your first day of absence.

If your baby is no-longer receiving neonatal care, you will need to give advance notice of the dates that you wish to take as leave.

You should complete the Neonatal care leave form (DOC, 57KB) and send it to your manager for verification.

Your manager will record your leave by contacting People Support using the Assyst Portal.

See our family friendly leave and pay guide for further details.

Neonatal care pay

You may also be eligible for neonatal care pay. To qualify:

• you must have a minimum of 26 weeks' continuous service with Essex County Council by the end of the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth or the date that you are notified of being matched for adoption
• your average salary needs to be above the National Insurance Lower Earnings Limit, which can be found on GOV.UK

If you meet the eligibility criteria, you will receive statutory neonatal pay for up to 12 weeks. The rate of pay will be the same as the statutory maternity, paternity, or adoption pay rates which can be found on GOV.UK.