Neonatal Care Leave and Miscellaneous Amendments Regulations 2025

Baroness Wyld Excerpts

Monday 10th March 2025 Grand Committee

I take this moment to thank all those who have been involved in the development of neonatal care leave and pay, including charities such as Bliss, The Smallest Things and Working Families, for their tireless campaigning work and support. I hope they are as proud as I am of the difference that this will make to hard-working families. I therefore commend these regulations to the House.

[Baroness Wyld (Con)]

My Lords, I rise to support these statutory instruments wholeheartedly, and thank the Minister for setting them out so comprehensively and clearly. It was a great privilege to sponsor the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill in this House. I am most grateful to Minister Justin Madders in the other place for writing to let me know that these SIs would be introduced.

The definition of neonatal care that the Government have arrived at is very good. Clearly, a lot of meticulous work went into that. At the end of last year, I finished serving on the Preterm Birth Committee, so brilliantly chaired by the noble Lord, Lord Patel. I reflect that, as with this Bill, it is so important that policy developments are rooted in the experience of families, as the Minister set out. As she said, these families are going through the most difficult situation.

I shall try to keep my remarks brief, but I wanted to put on the record my thanks to all the organisations and campaigners—and particularly the parents who told me their stories, and who have come back now and said what an impact this change will have. I thank Bliss for its briefings and for keeping up the pace on this. I reflect that, when the parents have come and campaigned, they have never asked for the world. They appreciate that, as the Minister said, one has to balance the needs of employers and employees, which is why the consultation with stakeholders that she referred to was so important.

This has been one of the best examples of cross-party working. When I came to this House, I never thought that I would work with the SNP, but it was a real pleasure so to do with Stuart McDonald in the other place in the last Parliament. I am proud that it was a Conservative Government that backed this Bill, but I also want to be generous of spirit and pay tribute to the Labour Party. When it was in opposition, it was incredibly helpful in getting this through. It was designed in close consultation with employers. As the Minister said, we always said that we hoped that employers would go further where and when they could. I just reflect that, as we go into future discussions about employee relations, dialogue is absolutely essential to ensuring that we can produce outcomes that everybody can get behind.

The Minister will be aware that groups of families will not be able to access this pay because of their different employment statuses. Can she say something about what the department is doing to look at what we might do in the future on that? She talked about making sure that HMRC is prepared, which will obviously involve raising awareness of these regulations and this change. Bliss and others have done a great job, but there is more we can do to make sure that parents know they are entitled to this—just to ease that anxiety.

This provision should make a real difference to many families—and families have told me that it would have done, if it had been there when they went through this. I hope that a lot of families will be spared some of the stress and worry that comes at the most difficult time. I thank the Minister once again for bringing these instruments before the Committee.

[Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for her comprehensive introduction of these regulations. We on this side of the Committee support the introduction of these statutory instruments. As my noble friend Lady Wyld mentioned, the Conservative Party made a clear and firm commitment in its 2019 manifesto to introduce neonatal care, and it would be very remiss not to join the Minister in praising my noble friend Lady Wyld for her sponsorship of this Bill through the House of Lords. Her commitment was instrumental in delivering the Act, and she deserves enormous praise for that.

It is with a measure of cautious optimism that we now find ourselves in a position to support these measures—so long as we continue to build on the sensible and pragmatic improvements to workers’ rights that we, as Conservatives, introduced during our time in government. It was under our stewardship that we introduced shared parental leave, which affords families greater choice and flexibility. We also instituted carers’ leave, which granted employees valuable time off to care for their loved ones. Furthermore, we championed flexible working arrangements, giving both employers and employees the autonomy to determine working practices that best suit their needs.

As a result of these reforms, Britain now boasts one of the most generous systems of maternity and paternity leave anywhere in the world, ensuring that families are afforded the opportunity to spend vital uninterrupted time with their newborns. These advancements were not made in isolation; they were achieved, as my noble friend Lady Wyld said, through active dialogue and consultation with businesses and employees alike. That is how changes of this type should always be introduced; the Government may wish to take note.

I turn to the effects of this instrument, which aims to support employed parents of children born on or after 6 April 2025 whose babies require at least seven days of neonatal care within 28 days of birth. This measure is clearly a step forward, offering up to 12 weeks of paid leave for parents—one week for each week a child spends in neonatal care. The Official Opposition support this but there are questions to consider. How will the Government ensure that businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, manage these measures? Will the Government provide sufficient guidance and support to help employers navigate these changes smoothly? I notice that the Explanatory Memorandum says that guidance will be published before the regulations come into effect, but can the Minister reassure us that the guidance will be publicised widely and made available to employees? That may go some way to ameliorating the one-off cost of just over £4 million that the Minister pointed out would be an effect of these measures.

Additionally, although the Government have provided the statutory payment of £187.18 per week—or 90% of average earnings, whichever is lower—do they think this amount will be sufficient for parents to fully support themselves and their families during these challenging times? As my noble friend Lady Wyld pointed out, we hope that employees go further if they can, but, as she and I have said, we need to bring businesses with us.

There are several important questions regarding the scope and accessibility of these regulations. Although the provisions are designed to be inclusive, allowing parents in surrogacy arrangements and adoptive parents to take leave, what steps will the Government take to ensure that employers are fully aware of these provisions? How will they guarantee that leave is genuinely accessible to all those entitled to it, regardless of their work history or specific circumstances? Additionally, although businesses will be able to reclaim a portion of the statutory payment from HMRC, how will this process work in practice? Will the Government provide adequate support to help employers navigate the process smoothly, ensuring that there are no delays or confusion?

It is equally important to ensure that there is public awareness. The Government have indicated the development of a communications and stakeholder engagement plan to inform parents, employers and the public about these changes, but how will that work in practice? How will the Government ensure that the information reaches all parents, particularly those who may be unaware of their entitlement to neonatal care leave or pay? Can the Minister guarantee that the plan will be robust enough to reach every eligible family?

We support these measures but we must continue to scrutinise their practical implementation. Neonatal care leave and pay represent a significant step forward in supporting families during one of the most challenging periods of their lives. However, as with any new entitlement, the devil may well be in the details. How will the Government evaluate the success of these regulations over the first few years? Will there be a formal review mechanism to assess whether the scheme is meeting the needs of parents and businesses? It would also be most instructive to know how many parents are using this entitlement—whether it is the 60,000 estimated, or more, or less.

As I have asked a couple of times, how will the Government ensure that businesses, especially smaller ones, can manage the additional burden of these regulations? Will the statutory pay rate be sufficient for families already facing financial pressures? How will the public and employers be fully informed to ensure that the provisions are accessed effectively? Most importantly, can the Minister comment on the support that may be available to parents in Northern Ireland, as I believe these measures apply only to the mainland?

I look forward to hearing the Government’s responses to these questions and to ensuring that these regulations are implemented in a way that truly benefits the parents and children who need them most.

Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill

Baroness Wyld Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 24th March 2023 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness Wyld]

That the Bill be now read a second time.

[Baroness Wyld (Con)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to sponsor the Bill in your Lordships’ House. I thank Stuart McDonald MP for steering the Bill so effectively through the other place. It has already achieved a minor miracle in uniting the Scottish National Party and the Conservative Party, as well as gaining cross-party support in the other place. I pay tribute to all those who have spoken so passionately and sensitively about their personal experiences of children born prematurely, including Luke Hall MP and David Linden MP. I give thanks to the APPG on Premature and Sick Babies.

I am enormously grateful to Bliss and other charities that provide vital support to parents of premature and sick babies in their time of need, and which have provided me with advice on the Bill. I want in particular to mention Tom and Anna, who are now both employees of Bliss, who came to see me and told me their personal stories and how they had been inspired to work to help other parents. It is not always easy to talk about these painful experiences, but I want to be clear that all who have campaigned for the Bill can take pride in seeing it come to fruition.

I am grateful to everyone who has put their name down to speak today, and to see such wide-ranging expertise from across the House. I know that this is a far-reaching, highly important and deeply personal issue for many here today, and I am sure we will have a very thoughtful debate.

The Office for National Statistics reports that an estimated 100,000 babies every year are admitted to neonatal care in the UK following their birth. Neonatal care is the type of medical or palliative care that a baby who was born prematurely or sick receives. Many of these babies spend prolonged periods of time on a neonatal care unit in a hospital as a result of being born prematurely or with other health conditions.

We know how incredibly worrying and stressful a time that is for parents. They of course want to get on and focus their attention on getting through this period, supporting their family, each other and their baby or babies. Unfortunately, though, some may end up with concerns about their ability to do so and to keep their jobs. Fathers, if eligible, get only two weeks of statutory paternity leave, and when that runs out they might be called back to work while their baby is still in hospital. For babies who have an extended stay to stay in hospital at the start of their lives, mothers report that the 39 weeks of paid maternity leave does not give them enough time. A large portion of that can be used up while their baby is in neonatal care, leaving them feeling that they do not have enough time at home with their baby before having to go back to work. It is important always to have at the front of our minds that children in neonatal care often have significant health or developmental issues that require specialist medical attention, which means that this does not end up being a usual form of maternity leave. I have heard at first hand that some parents even choose to leave work as a result.

The successful passage of the Bill will realise an important commitment from the Government to create a new statutory leave and pay entitlement for the parents of babies receiving neonatal care. That means that employed parents who find themselves in this desperate situation in future will know that, as a minimum, they are entitled to time off work to care for their babies and that they will not suffer detriment from their employer as a result.

Protected time off from work for parents who find themselves in this position is crucial. We know that there are some brilliant supportive and flexible employers out there, and I commend them and encourage others to follow their lead. Business representative organisations, including the CBI, have expressed their support for the plan to introduce neonatal care leave and pay. Employee retention has been identified as a key benefit of family-related leave policies, including neonatal care leave and pay and engagement with employer representatives. This is the right thing to do for families and for the labour market.

I will outline the key components of the Bill. It consists of three clauses and a Schedule. The main provisions of the Bill are found in the Schedule, which creates a statutory entitlement to neonatal care leave, creates a statutory entitlement to neonatal care pay and makes consequential amendments to other legislation, including adding references to neonatal care leave and pay where relevant. Neonatal care leave and pay will be available to each employed parent of babies who are admitted into neonatal care up to the age of 28 days and who have a continuous stay in hospital, or in other specified care settings, of seven full days or more. Neonatal care leave will be a day-one right, meaning that it will be available to an employee from their first day in a new job.

Statutory neonatal care pay, like other family-related pay rights, will be available to those employees who meet continuity of service and minimum earnings tests. I expect it to be paid at the statutory rate, currently £156.66, or 90% of the employee’s average wages—whichever is lower. This amount is usually uprated in line with increases to statutory payments.

As the Government have already set out in their response to the consultation on neonatal leave, the intention is that the total amount of statutory neonatal care leave available to parents will be capped at a maximum of 12 weeks; that will be one week for every week their child spends in neonatal care. This will be set out in the regulations under the Bill.

This leave will be protected. Those exercising the right to leave will have legal protection against being subjected to any detriment for doing so, consistent with other family-related leave entitlements such as paternity, maternity and adoption leave. It is worth your Lordships noting that this Bill is constructed to be in harmony with these other related entitlements.

Neonatal care leave will be flexible, allowing employees to take leave either when their child is receiving neonatal care or after that period. This means that fathers who have only two weeks of paternity leave may want to take their neonatal care leave while their child is still in neonatal care. However, mothers will be able to add it to the end of their maternity leave and other forms of parental leave that they may be entitled to. This is because, once maternity leave commences, a mother cannot stop it in order to take neonatal care leave, or else she will lose her remaining maternity leave.

With that in mind, the Bill provides for the window of time within which neonatal care leave can be taken to be set out in regulations. This window will be a minimum of 68 weeks following the child’s birth, as this ensures that mothers and fathers have sufficient time to take their neonatal care leave alongside other leave rights that they may be entitled to, rather than having to lose out on any such entitlements.

Eligibility for neonatal care leave and pay will be detailed in regulations but must be based on a parental or other personal relationship with the child in neonatal care. This is to ensure that the definition can be kept up to date to accommodate changing family dynamics.

Your Lordships will no doubt have noticed that there are a number of delegated powers in this Bill. We spend a lot of time, quite rightly, in this House talking about being clear about the need for delegated powers and how they will be used. The powers in this Bill mirror, in so far as is possible, the approach in existing family-related leave and pay entitlement legislation. Such powers have been on the statute book for some time and are well understood by employers and the legal community. A similar approach was taken most recently in the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018, which was also a Private Member’s Bill. The Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee’s report of 2 February had no concerns with the delegated powers process in the Bill. It said:

“There is nothing in this private member’s Bill which we would wish to draw to the attention of the House.”


I hope that gives noble Lords adequate reassurance on this matter.

We have an opportunity here to make a real difference to the lives of those who seek to rely on this entitlement in the future. I hope that, with the support of your Lordships, we can deliver legislation that parents who have been through a stressful time while having a baby in neonatal care, and the charities which work tirelessly to support them, can celebrate. I beg to move.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Wyld (Con)]

My Lords, I am enormously grateful to everybody who spoke today, and I shall take a few moments to reflect on some of the points that were made.

When I saw the speakers’ list and the name of the noble Lord, Lord Patel, I knew we would have a very moving debate. I said to him in the tearoom, “Try not to make it too moving because I will have to get up and respond to you without becoming wobbly”. He told stories and shared the memories that he has of all the people he has looked after, including Sarah and the other mothers and babies; they will remember him for the rest of their lives, and I pay tribute to him. I share his points about implementation; others have echoed those, so I will come back to that.

All I can say to the noble Baroness, Lady Foster, and her 9 pounds and 14 ounces son, is that she is a stronger woman than I am, and I am so grateful that she spoke. I very much hope that this will be mirrored in Northern Ireland. She made very powerful points, as others did, about the importance of early years and the other work that is going on in this area, and for this legislation to be part of a wider picture.

My noble friend Lady Newlove always speaks with such passion in every debate she comes to. I thank her for bringing the real-life experience and bringing to life what people go through. As my noble friend the Minister said, thank goodness for super Sam, and I pay tribute to him. More widely, she said Sam is having language and speech therapy today. That underlines the point made by others that this is holistic; it is about children as they go through their early years. We spend a lot of time in this House—the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor of Bolton, said this—talking about when things go wrong later, such as family breakdown, mental health problems and young people offending. But the building blocks are there. I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Foster, that the Princess of Wales has shown great leadership on this—long may it continue.

The noble Baroness, Lady Taylor of Bolton, talked about our attitude towards fathers. When we hear about skin-to-skin contact, the support for mothers, and the loneliness mothers face when they are in this situation and the impact on their mental health, I think we have a way to go in changing our attitudes towards fathers and what we expect to provide for them in these most crucial days.

As the noble Baroness, Lady Blake, said, this was an emotional discussion, and I thank her very much for her support. I agree with her that there is more work to be done behind the scenes and I commit myself to doing that. I should have thanked those in the Bill team in my opening speech, who have been absolutely brilliant. Again, I thank my noble friend the Minister. I will push him on implementation and other issues, but I am sure he can cope. With that, I commend the Bill to the House.

Bill read a second time and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.