Maternity Leave

Maternity leave and what you need to tell your employer

If you have a contract with your employer, you are entitled to Statutory Maternity Leave of 52 weeks regardless of how long you have worked for them. The contract does not need to be in writing.

Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance are only paid for 39 weeks. If you take 52 weeks Statutory Maternity Leave, the last 13 weeks are unpaid. You may get an increase in your Universal Credit or can apply for it when your maternity pay stops.

The earliest you can start maternity leave and pay is 11 weeks before your baby is due, however, you may prefer to work for longer and have more leave left to take after your baby is born. The latest you can start maternity leave and pay is the day your baby is born.

You must tell your employer when you want to start your maternity leave by the end of the 15th week before the week the baby is due. Being off work sick in the last four weeks of pregnancy can trigger the start of your maternity leave.

Sharing your time off work and maternity pay with your baby’s other parent

You may be able to share your maternity leave and pay with your baby’s other parent. This is called Shared Parental Leave and Statutory Shared Parental Pay. You can end your maternity leave early and, with your baby’s other parent, take Shared Parental Leave instead. If you both meet the qualifying criteria, you can then decide how you want to divide the Shared Parental Leave and pay. You can take Shared Parental Leave in up to three separate blocks, but your employer can agree to more. They can also let you split each block into several shorter periods of work and leave.

Optional keeping-in-touch days

You and your employer can arrange for you to come into work for up to 10 days during your maternity leave (except during the first two weeks after your baby is born). It is up to you and your employer what type of work you do during these days. You may, for example, want to go in for conferences or training days. Your employer cannot force you to do this. You will receive your day’s pay at the normal rate less the proportionate day’s Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance.

Find out about money when you’re expecting or just had a baby

Neonatal Care Leave and Pay

What is it?

New neonatal care legislation has come into effect as of 6 April 2025. This means that parents whose babies are going through neonatal care will be entitled to leave and/or pay from their employer to support them through the process.

The legislation covers birth parents, adoptive parents, partners, parents who are fostering to adopt, overseas adopters and intended parents through surrogacy arrangements.

You will receive neonatal care leave and pay in addition to things like maternity and paternity leave and pay, adoption leave and pay, shared parental leave and pay and parental bereavement leave and pay.

Neonatal care is defined as:

• any medical care your baby receives in hospital
• medical care your baby gets outside of a hospital after being discharged from an inpatient stay hospital. This medical care must be under the instruction of a consultant and includes ongoing monitoring of the child by healthcare professionals
• palliative or end of life care for your baby

Neonatal Care Leave

What is it?

Neonatal Care Leave is the time that you can take off work whilst your baby is in neonatal care.

Who can get it?

You need to be classed as an employee to be eligible. If you are classed as a worker you won’t be eligible.

If you’re an employee, neonatal care leave is available from day one of your employment. This means you don’t need to have been employed for a certain amount of time to be eligible.

You will be eligible if your baby meets all of the following criteria:

• was born on or after 6 April 2025
• has received medical or palliative neonatal care within the first 28 days after birth, beginning the day after birth
• care must last for at least 7 consecutive days, beginning the day after being admitted into care (for adoption, the care needs to have been received after the adoption placement)

How does it work?

You’re entitled to one week’s Neonatal Care Leave for every uninterrupted week that your baby receives neonatal care.

You must take your leave within 68 weeks of the date of your baby’s birth or, in the case of adoption, the date of placement. 

• minimum amount of leave: one week
• maximum amount of leave: 12 weeks

Examples

• if your baby is in neonatal care for three weeks, you will receive three weeks of leave
• if your baby is in neonatal care for sixteen weeks, the amount of leave you can take is capped at 12 weeks

Only full weeks are counted, so if your baby is in neonatal care for four and a half weeks, you will only get four weeks of leave.

In the case of twins, you can only take one amount of leave, not one for each baby.

How does it work with other types of family leave?

Whilst you will take neonatal care leave in addition to other types of family leave such as maternity leave, you cannot take two different types of family leave at the same time.

For example, you can’t be on maternity leave and neonatal care leave at the same time. You would probably already be on maternity leave from the day of your baby’s birth, so you would take Neonatal Care Leave after your maternity leave has finished.

If you’re on paternity leave or shared parental leave, you could take Neonatal Care Leave before your shared parental or paternity leave. For example, if you have planned your paternity or shared parental leave for a later date.

The two tiers of Neonatal Care Leave

There are two categories of statutory Neonatal Care Leave: tier 1 and tier 2 period leave. Depending on which tier your situation falls into, you will be able to take your 12 weeks off leave in different blocks.

Tier 1

Tier 1 covers any time that your baby is still receiving neonatal care up until a week after the care stops. This tier of care is most likely to be used by partners of the birth parent who have not arranged to take any family leave from the date of birth.

You can give notice for tier 1 leave informally at work, before work is due to begin on the first day of absence. This doesn’t need to be in writing, but you’ll need to tell your employer before each week of absence you’re going to take.

Tier 1 leave can be taken in non-continuous blocks for up to 12 weeks. This means you could give notice to take one week of Neonatal Care Leave, then go back to work for the next week, and then take another leave of Neonatal Care Leave.

The minimum block of leave you can take at a time is one week. You won’t be able to claim this once your baby has been out of neonatal care for seven days. In this case, you would claim Tier 2. 

Tier 2

Tier 2 covers any other period of time within the total 68 weeks from the child’s birth that is not covered by tier 1. You will be eligible for Tier 2 if your baby has been post-discharge for more than a week when you take your leave.

This tier of leave is most likely to be used by parents such as the birth parent, who are already taking maternity leave (or adoption leave) and will be taking Neonatal Care Leave after their other type of family leave ends.

You must give notice in writing to your employer to take this tier of leave.

• for a week’s leave: your notice must be given at least 15 days before your leave begins
• for two or more week’s leave: your notice must be given at least 28 days before your leave begins (your employer may choose to accept less notice)

This type of leave must be taken in one continuous block. The maximum amount of leave you can take is still 12 weeks, but you have to take this 12 weeks as one block of time off. Your entitlement to this time off ends 68 weeks, or roughly 1 year and 3 months, after your baby’s birth. 

How do I take Neonatal Care Leave?

You will need to give your employer notice of your leave. This is the information you must include to your employer:

• your name
• your baby’s date of birth (if your baby is adopted you must include their date of placement or entry into Great Britain if they are coming from overseas)
• date your baby started receiving neonatal care, or each date if there has been more than one occasion of receiving neonatal care
• if neonatal care has ended, the date it ended
• the date you want your neonatal care leave to start
• the number of weeks notice you’re giving
• confirmation that your time off will be used to care for your baby
• if this is your first time giving notice, a declaration that you have parental responsibility for your baby

Once you have given your notice of your intention to take Neonatal Care Leave, you must tell your employer:

• when the neonatal care stops
• if your baby starts to receive neonatal care again, the date of it beginning and ending
• you must do this as soon as reasonably possible

In some circumstances, you and your employer can mutually agree a date for your leave to begin so that you do not have to follow the formal notice procedures. This is called “waiving” your notice period and is up to you and your individual employer.

Special circumstances

You will also be able to take neonatal care leave in special circumstances such as:

• if your baby dies
• if your adoption process is disrupted
• if your application for a parental order fails

Statutory Neonatal Care Pay

What is it?

If you are taking Neonatal Care Leave, you will not be entitled to your regular pay, unless this is specifically outlined in your contract of employment.

Statutory Neonatal Care Pay is the pay you will receive from your employer each week you’re on Neonatal Care Leave.

Who can get it?

To be eligible for Statutory Neonatal Care Pay you must:

• have parental responsibility for the baby in neonatal care
• intend to care for the baby during Neonatal Care Leave
• be an employed earner, which is different from being classed as an employee, meaning that some workers can become eligible if they meet the conditions below

To qualify for Statutory Neonatal Care Pay you must meet the following conditions:

• earn at least £123 per week in the 8 weeks ending with the relevant week
• have worked continuously for at least 26 weeks with your current employer by the end of what is called the “qualifying week” or “relevant week”

What is the relevant/qualifying week?

The relevant or qualifying week is used to decide if you will be given Statutory Neonatal Care Pay, and is different depending on your circumstances. If you qualify for:

• Statutory Maternity or Paternity Pay: you should use the 15th week before the baby’s due date, as this is the same qualifying week that was used to calculate your Statutory Maternity/Paternity Pay
• Statutory Adoption Pay or Paternity Pay for Adoption: you should use the week in which you’re notified about being matched with a child for adoption purposes, as this is the same qualifying week that was used to calculate your Statutory Adoption Pay or Paternity pay for Adoption purposes

In any other case, the relevant week is the week before your baby’s neonatal care begins.

How much will I get?

The Statutory Neonatal Care Pay weekly rate is the same weekly rate as for other statutory family pay amounts.

The current Statutory Neonatal Care Pay is £187.18 per week, or 90% of your average weekly earnings if they are less than £187.18.

You will get whichever of these two figures is less.

Returning to work

Returning to work after time off with your baby

Your employer will assume that you will take all 52 weeks of your Statutory Maternity Leave. If you decide not to take all your leave you must give your employer at least eight weeks’ notice that you are returning to work early.

Your employer can insist that you do not return until you’ve had eight weeks leave.

Your Statutory Maternity Pay/Maternity Allowance does not have to be paid back if you decide not to return to work after your maternity leave. You may have to pay back any Occupational Maternity Pay you have received depending on your contract of employment.

Health and safety

Your employer should do an assessment and offer you an alternative job or suspend you on full pay if there is a health and safety risk because you are pregnant. You are entitled to paid time off to attend antenatal appointments and classes. If your employer dismisses you because you are pregnant, this is automatically an unfair dismissal and you should seek legal advice.