Neonatal care leave and pay

Neonatal care leave is available to parents of babies who are admitted into neonatal care up to 28 days old, and who have a continuous stay in hospital of 7 full days or longer.

This entitlement is in addition to any other parental leave entitlement.

Neonatal care is defined as:

• Any medical care received in hospital;
• Medical care received elsewhere following discharge from an inpatient stay in hospital. The care must be under the direction of a consultant, and includes ongoing monitoring and visits to the child by healthcare professionals; or
• Palliative or end of life care

Eligibility #

You are entitled to neonatal care leave from day one of your employment. The below conditions must be met:

• At the birth of the baby, you must be the baby’s parent, intended parent (in relation to surrogacy) or partner (see definition below) to the baby’s mother and you must have or expect to have responsibility for raising the child (similar rules apply in relation to adoption)
• The newborn must be admitted to neonatal care within the first 28 days of birth and must remain in neonatal care for at least 7 continuous days
• Neonatal care leave must be taken to provide care for the baby

To be eligible for neonatal care pay, you must have worked for dxw for at least 26 weeks by the qualifying week (15 weeks before the expected week of childbirth).

Neonatal care leave #

You can take one week of neonatal care leave for each full week (7 days) that your baby receives neonatal care, up to a maximum of 12 weeks. 

Leave must be taken within the first 68 weeks of the baby’s birth (or placement in the case of adoption). 

As many people will already be on some form of family leave while their baby is in neonatal care, neonatal leave will often be taken after neonatal care has ended, and at the end of your other leave. However, if you are on secondary carer leave, you may take neonatal leave while your baby is still receiving neonatal care.

The notice period for you to tell us you are entitled to neonatal care leave is dependent on your individual circumstance, and is:

• As soon as is reasonably practical if you are the secondary carer
• 15 days prior to any other leave entitlement ending if you are the primary carer

Neonatal care pay #

If eligible, you will receive neonatal care pay for each week of leave taken, and this is paid at the statutory rate.

The notice period for you to tell us you are entitled to neonatal care pay is dependent on your individual circumstance, and is:

• As soon as is reasonably practical if you are the secondary carer
• 15 days prior to the week your pay is due to start if you are the primary carer

Giving notice #

To give us notice of your entitlement to neonatal care leave and/or pay, please email the People team.

You will need to provide us with the below information:

• Your baby’s date of birth (or date of placement/entry to Great Britain if adopting)
• The start date, or dates, of neonatal care
• The date neonatal care ended (if applicable)
• The date on which you would like to take leave (and pay if applicable)
• The number of weeks of neonatal Care Leave (and pay if applicable) that you are entitled to
• Confirmation that the leave is being taken to care for the baby

If you have given notice before your baby has stopped receiving neonatal care, you must inform us of the date that neonatal care ends, as soon as is reasonably practical after that date.

Last updated: 7 May 2025 (history)