Glossary · UK
What is Statutory Neonatal Care Pay?
A statutory payment for eligible employed parents whose new baby receives neonatal care in hospital, providing up to 12 additional weeks of paid leave on top of maternity, paternity, or adoption leave.
Full Definition
Statutory Neonatal Care Pay (SNCP), introduced from 6 April 2025 alongside Neonatal Care Leave, supports employed parents whose baby is admitted to neonatal care within the first 28 days of life and stays in hospital for seven or more continuous days. It applies in addition to existing entitlements such as maternity, paternity, shared parental, or adoption leave and pay, recognising that parents of babies needing neonatal care often exhaust their existing leave while still visiting a hospitalised child. Neonatal Care Leave itself is a day-one employment right, available regardless of length of service, and can be taken as one continuous block or in weekly blocks, up to a maximum of 12 weeks, generally to be used within 68 weeks of the baby's birth. To qualify for the statutory pay element (as opposed to just the unpaid right to leave), an employee must meet a continuity of service test, typically having worked for their employer for at least 26 weeks by the relevant qualifying week and earning at or above the Lower Earnings Limit, mirroring the qualifying conditions for other family-related statutory payments such as Statutory Paternity Pay. Statutory Neonatal Care Pay is paid at the lower of a flat statutory weekly rate (uprated each April in line with other statutory family payments) or 90% of the employee's average weekly earnings, and is paid by the employer, who can then recover most or all of the cost from HMRC through their PAYE returns in the same way as Statutory Maternity or Paternity Pay. Both parents can potentially claim Neonatal Care Leave and Pay if both meet the eligibility conditions and the baby qualifies, and the entitlement runs separately from -- and is added on top of -- existing maternity, paternity, adoption, and shared parental leave allowances, rather than replacing or overlapping with them. Employers should update family leave policies to reflect the new entitlement, since failing to recognise it, or treating an employee unfavourably for taking it, can give rise to a tribunal claim in the same way as detriment relating to other statutory family leave.