Neonatal Care Leave and Pay 2026/27
Up to 12 weeks' leave and £194.32 a week SNCP (or 90% of earnings if lower) when a newborn needs neonatal care. Work out your weeks and pay.
If your newborn needs neonatal care for at least 7 full days in a row, you can take one week of Neonatal Care Leave for every 7 days of that care, up to 12 weeks, on top of maternity, paternity or shared parental leave. If you qualify for pay, Statutory Neonatal Care Pay (SNCP) is £194.32 a week in 2026/27, or 90% of your average weekly earnings if that is lower (GOV.UK). The leave is a right from your first day in the job; the pay needs 26 weeks' service. Enter your baby's time in care below.
Enter your figures and press the button.
Who qualifies
- The baby must have been born on or after 6 April 2025 (SI 2025/375 reg 2(1); SI 2025/376 reg 2), and the neonatal care must start before the end of 28 days beginning with the day after the birth and continue without interruption for at least 7 days beginning with the day after it starts (Employment Rights Act 1996 s.80EF(5) and (6); Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 s.171ZZ16(2) and (4)).
- Neonatal care means medical care in hospital; medical care after leaving hospital, if the baby was an inpatient, the care is directed by a consultant and it includes ongoing monitoring and visits arranged by the hospital; or palliative or end-of-life care. Time spent being moved between places of care does not break the run (SI 2025/375 reg 4).
- You must be the baby's parent or intended parent (surrogacy) with responsibility for their upbringing, or the partner of the baby's mother with the main responsibility apart from the mother. Adopters, prospective adopters and their partners qualify too, counting only care after the placement (SI 2025/375 regs 5 and 7(3)). You must be taking the leave to care for the baby.
- Leave: you must be an employee working in England, Scotland or Wales. It does not matter how long you have worked for your employer (GOV.UK eligibility).
- Pay: 26 weeks' continuous employment with that employer ending with the relevant week, still employed by them up to the week before the pay starts, and normal weekly earnings over the 8 weeks ending with the relevant week of at least the lower earnings limit in force at the end of the relevant week: £129.00 a week in 2026/27, and £125.00 a week if the relevant week ended in 2025/26. The relevant week is normally the week before the one in which neonatal care starts. If you already get maternity, paternity or adoption pay for the baby it is the same week as for that pay: for maternity pay, the 15th week before the week the baby is due (s.171ZZ16(2) and (6); SI 2025/376 reg 15).
- Very early births. Where the relevant week is fixed by the due date and the baby is born before it, regulation 24 adjusts the tests: you pass the service test if you would have reached 26 weeks but for the early birth, and the earnings test uses the 8 weeks ending with the week before the week of the birth (SI 2025/376 reg 24).
How many weeks you get
One week for every 7 days the baby is in neonatal care without interruption. The first 7 days begin with the day after the day care starts. Part weeks do not count, so 13 days earns one week and 14 days earns two. The most you can get is 12 weeks however long the stay (SI 2025/376 reg 7; SI 2025/375 reg 7). GOV.UK's example: 56 days in neonatal care is 8 weeks.
- Re-admission. Weeks can build up over two or more separate stays, as long as each stay is at least 7 days without interruption (SNCP reg 7(4)). Each stay must itself be neonatal care, and the definition in s.171ZZ16(4) and s.80EF(6) covers only care that starts within 28 days beginning with the day after the birth.
- Twins and multiple births. While two or more babies from the same pregnancy are in care at the same time, weeks build up for only one of them. If they are in care at different times, each can add weeks. The 12-week maximum does not grow, and the 68-week window runs from the first baby's birth (SI 2025/375 reg 9; SI 2025/376 reg 8).
- Both parents can claim if each qualifies: GOV.UK says "you and your partner may be able to get paid time off work". Each employee's entitlement is their own; it is not a pot split between you like Shared Parental Leave.
How much Statutory Neonatal Care Pay is
The weekly rate is the smaller of £194.32 and 90% of your normal weekly earnings; a fraction of a penny is rounded up (SI 2025/376 reg 25). The flat rate rose from £187.18 to £194.32 on 6 April 2026 (SI 2026/148 art. 10(4)), the same weekly figure as statutory maternity, paternity and shared parental pay. Unlike maternity pay there is no six-week period at 90% uncapped: every week is paid at the lower of the two. With average earnings of about £215.91 a week or more, you get the flat rate.
- Earnings are gross pay on which Class 1 National Insurance is due (or would be, if you earned enough), averaged over the relevant period, in practice the pay days in about the 8 weeks ending with the relevant week (SI 2025/376 reg 23(4)). Under salary sacrifice, use the pay actually paid after the sacrifice. A backdated pay rise that covers the period counts (HMRC: manually calculate SNCP).
- It is taxed like wages. SNCP is paid through payroll in the usual way, with Income Tax and National Insurance deducted (GOV.UK).
- No SNCP for a week in which you are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay for any part of it, and it is only payable for a week in which you cared, or intend to care, for the baby (SI 2025/376 regs 12 and 9).
- Your employer can pay more under its own scheme. If you have a contractual right as well, you get whichever terms are better in each respect, not both (SI 2025/375 reg 20).
When to take it, and how much notice to give
All leave and pay must fall within 68 weeks beginning with the date of birth (SI 2025/375 reg 7(2); SI 2025/376 reg 10). The rules then split into two periods.
| Tier 1: in care, and the 7 days after | Tier 2: the rest of the 68 weeks | |
|---|---|---|
| How you take it | Weeks can be separate, at least a week at a time. Not before the first 7 days of care are complete. | One continuous block. |
| Notice for leave | For each week, before you are due to start work on the first day off, or as soon as reasonably practicable. Phone, voicemail or text is fine. | In writing: 15 days before for one week, 28 days before for two or more weeks. |
| Notice for pay | In writing, within 28 days beginning with the first day of the first week of pay. | In writing: 15 days before for one week, 28 days before for two or more weeks. |
| Cancelling | Not possible. | In writing, by the same 15-day or 28-day deadline. |
Sources: SI 2025/375 regs 8 and 10 (leave); SI 2025/376 regs 9 and 11 (pay); GOV.UK employer guide: notice. You and your employer can agree to waive the notice rules.
The notice must give your name, the baby's date of birth (and placement or entry date for adoption), the dates neonatal care started and, if it has, ended, when you want the leave to start, how many weeks, and that you are taking it to care for the baby. The first time, you also confirm your relationship to the baby. If you gave notice while the baby was still in care, tell your employer the date care ends as soon as you reasonably can. GOV.UK has a declaration form, NEO3, or you can use an email, letter or your employer's own form (GOV.UK: how to claim).
How it fits with maternity, paternity and shared parental leave
Neonatal Care Leave and Pay come in addition to your other parental leave and pay, not instead of them (GOV.UK overview).
- Maternity or adoption leave first. If the baby is in neonatal care while you are on maternity or adoption leave, your neonatal leave is taken after the maternity or adoption leave has finished. GOV.UK's example: a baby in care for 56 days adds 8 weeks to the end of 39 weeks of maternity leave, rather than those weeks being lost. All of it must still fit inside the 68-week window.
- Paternity leave and Shared Parental Leave. You can take neonatal leave and pay before you start paternity leave or Shared Parental Leave, or between blocks of Shared Parental Leave that were booked before the baby went into neonatal care. Once you are more than a week past the baby leaving care, the neonatal leave has to be one block, taken before or after the other leave (GOV.UK).
- When other leave interrupts it. If tier 1 neonatal leave is interrupted by another period of statutory leave, the neonatal leave stops and the rest is taken straight after the other leave while still in tier 1, or as part of the single tier 2 block if you are past it. No fresh notice is needed for the remainder. You cannot book tier 2 leave that you already know will be interrupted by other statutory leave (SI 2025/375 reg 12). An employee who stops tier 1 neonatal leave mid-week for pre-booked paternity or shared parental leave is still paid SNCP for that full week (HMRC).
- Shared Parental Leave notice is separate: to change a booked block you must give at least 8 weeks' notice before it starts (GOV.UK SPL). So if you want neonatal leave to sit between two SPL blocks, the SPL dates themselves do not need to move.
To see how maternity, paternity and shared parental pay run week by week, use the statutory pay timeline, the maternity pay calculator or the shared parental pay calculator. If a baby dies, see parental bereavement leave and pay. Every rate for the year is in statutory pay rates 2026/27.
For employers
- Recovering SNCP. You can recover 92% of SNCP paid, or 109% (100% plus compensation) if you qualify for Small Employers' Relief (SI 2025/206 reg 3). Small Employers' Relief applies if you paid £45,000 or less in Class 1 National Insurance, ignoring reductions such as Employment Allowance, in the last complete tax year before the relevant week. Claim through your Employer Payment Summary (GOV.UK: get help with statutory pay). If you cannot afford the payments you can apply online for an advance, repaid through the EPS (GOV.UK employer guide).
- Refusing pay. If an employee is not eligible for SNCP, tell them within 28 days of their notice for pay, in writing or on form NEO1, with the reason. They can ask the Statutory Payments Dispute Team to decide within 6 months of your decision (GOV.UK).
- Records. Keep the dates and amounts paid, any weeks not paid and why, and the employee's declaration and the baby's care dates, for 3 years from the end of the tax year they relate to. Form NEO2 can be used (GOV.UK).
- Terms and conditions other than pay continue during the leave (SI 2025/375 reg 13), including pay rises and building up holiday (GOV.UK). The employee has the right to return to the same job after an isolated period of neonatal leave, or after a run of statutory leave of 26 weeks or less in total for the child (excluding parental leave, and with no more than four weeks of parental leave in it); after a longer run, the same job or, if that is not reasonably practicable, a suitable alternative (SI 2025/375 reg 15).
- Redundancy protection. An employee made redundant while on neonatal leave must be offered any suitable alternative vacancy. Once they have taken 6 consecutive weeks of neonatal leave, that protection carries on after they return, until 18 months after the birth (or the placement or entry into Great Britain, for adoption) (SI 2025/375 reg 14). Dismissal or detriment because an employee took or sought to take neonatal leave is unlawful (regs 17 and 18).
Running payroll for the first time? See our PAYE and RTI guide for new employers.
Worked examples
Eight weeks in care, earning £600 a week
56 days in neonatal care earns 8 weeks. 90% of £600 is £540.00, more than £194.32, so each week pays £194.32: £1,554.56 in total before tax and NI. The employer recovers £1,430.20, or £1,694.47 with Small Employers' Relief.
Re-admitted, earning £180 a week
A first stay of 20 days earns 2 weeks and a re-admission of 9 days earns 1 more: 3 weeks. 90% of £180 is £162.00, below £194.32, so that is the weekly rate: £486.00 in total.
Three months in care, two months into a new job
90 days in care earns 12 weeks, the 12-week maximum. The leave is a day-one right, so all 12 weeks can be taken. Without 26 weeks' service by the relevant week there is no SNCP, though the employer may pay something under its own policy.
Each figure is computed by the calculator above from the 2026/27 rates. Estimates only: your employer works out your entitlement from your actual pay dates and the care dates.
Frequently asked questions
How much is Statutory Neonatal Care Pay in 2026/27?
£194.32 a week, or 90% of your average weekly earnings if that is lower, from 6 April 2026. It is paid through payroll, so Income Tax and National Insurance are deducted. Your employer may pay more under its own scheme.
How many weeks of neonatal leave do I get?
One week for every 7 full days in a row your baby is in neonatal care, counted from the day after care started, up to 12 weeks. A baby in care for 56 days earns 8 weeks. Separate stays each count if each lasts at least 7 days and starts within 28 days beginning with the day after the birth.
Do I need to have worked for my employer for a while?
Not for the leave: Neonatal Care Leave is a day-one right for employees. For the pay you need 26 weeks' continuous employment with that employer by the end of the relevant week, and average weekly earnings over the 8 weeks ending with the relevant week of at least the lower earnings limit in force at its end: £129.00 a week in 2026/27.
Can I take neonatal leave while I am on maternity leave?
No. If your baby is in neonatal care while you are on maternity or adoption leave, the neonatal leave is added on after the maternity or adoption leave ends. Partners on paternity leave or Shared Parental Leave can take neonatal leave before that leave, or between blocks booked before the baby went into neonatal care.
When must neonatal leave be taken?
Within 68 weeks of the birth. While the baby is in care and for a week after, you can take it a week at a time, giving notice on the day. After that, the rest must be taken in one block with 15 days' notice for one week or 28 days' notice for two or more.
Can employers reclaim Statutory Neonatal Care Pay?
Yes. Employers usually recover 92% from HMRC through the Employer Payment Summary, or 109% if they qualify for Small Employers' Relief by paying £45,000 or less in Class 1 National Insurance in the last complete tax year before the relevant week.