Parental wellbeing | New act for neonatal care: what employers need to know

New parents will have a right to additional, dedicated time to spend with their baby while they’re receiving specialist medical care.

What’s happened?

Introduced as a Private Members Bill by Stuart C McDonald MP, the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 will introduce two new statutory rights - neonatal care leave and neonatal care pay. The rights proposed by the Scottish National Party member for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East, were afforded a boost last summer when the government decided to back it as opposed to pursing a broader legislative proposition of its own. It had been the government’s aim to include a similar proposal amongst several other family friendly measures in 2019 within the now defunct Employment Bill.