Employment Update April 2025: Statutory neonatal care leave

The right to take statutory neonatal care leave (SNCL) will be a day one right for employees whose newborn baby, born on or after 6 April 2025, requires at least seven consecutive days of neonatal care within the first 28 days of their life.

Employees who have a parental relationship with the child receiving care will be entitled to up to 12 weeks of SNCL. The right to take SNCL is available regardless of length of service and it must be taken within 68 weeks of the child's birth. SNCL is in addition to other forms of statutory family leave, such as maternity or adoption leave.

SNCL is structured into two periods: Tier 1 and Tier 2. Tier 1 applies while the child is receiving neonatal care and for seven days after the care ends. Tier 2 applies to any remaining entitlement and must be taken in a single consecutive block. The maximum leave entitlement remains 12 weeks.

Employees must notify their employers if they intend to take SNCL. The notice requirements differ depending on when the leave is taken. For leave taken during a Tier 1 period, employees must notify their employer as soon as reasonably practicable, either orally or in writing. There is no minimum notice requirement. For Tier 2 periods, written notice must be provided at least 15 days before taking a single week of leave, or 28 days before taking multiple consecutive weeks.

Statutory neonatal care pay

From 6 April 2025, eligible employees will also be entitled to statutory neonatal care pay (SNCP) to provide financial support during their leave. To qualify for SNCP, employees must also have been continuously employed for at least 26 weeks before the relevant week (in most cases before the neonatal care starts). SNCP is paid at the flat statutory rate (the same as statutory paternity pay or statutory shared parental pay).

Best practice for employers

Whilst the take up for neonatal leave and pay is unlikely to involve significant numbers of employees it is important that Schools have updated their policies and are able to give staff who are affected accurate information about their rights.

For clients who are signed up to receive VWV's employment documentation we will shortly be issuing a Spring update with a new Neonatal Policy to be included in your Employment Manual. If you are otherwise interested in adopting our documentation please do get in touch.

Update to rates and limits

April 2025 also brings the usual increase to rates and limits which take effect from 6 April. These will particularly be relevant for schools making redundancies after that date, and statutory redundancy payments may need to be re-calculated:

• The limit on a week's pay (for calculating statutory redundancy payments) increases from £700 to £719
• The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal increases from £115,115 to £118,223

National Minimum Wage increases

From 1 April 2025, the new National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) rates will take effect:

• Ages 21 and over: £12.21 per hour (6.7% increase)
• Ages 18-20: £10.00 per hour (16.3% increase)
• Ages 16-17 and apprentices: £7.55 per hour (18% increase)

The Government aims to align minimum wages with inflation and achieve its target of two-thirds of median earnings. The increase in the 18-20 band also represents a commitment to the ultimate removal of this band, so that all over 18s will receive the higher rate.

Schools will need to ensure that any worker who is currently below these rates sees an increase from April.

Employment Rights Bill update

The Employment Rights Bill has now made its way through the Commons and an updated Bill has been published incorporating a number of amendments. It had its first reading in the House of Lords on 14 March 2025 and the second reading is scheduled to take place on 27 March 2025.

We will continue to keep you updated of progress and we have published a tracker to help clients keep track of progress of the Bill.

For further information on these matters please contact Alice Reeve in our Independent Schools team on 07741 271 363, or complete the form below.