Here at the Co-op, we understand that having a child or children in neonatal care can be an extremely stressful and challenging experience and we're committed to supporting you and doing what we can help ensure you are able to be by your child's side.

The purpose of this policy is to give you information about what leave and pay you can take and outline what help is available both inside and outside of Co-op.

This policy applies to babies who were born on or after 6th April 2025.

Crucial bits

What is Neonatal care leave?

Neonatal care leave is designed to assist new parents of babies who are admitted into neonatal care.

In this policy, Neonatal care means

• medical care that your child receives in hospital

• medical care that your child receives in any other place, providing:

  • your child was previously an inpatient in hospital and care continues to be needed after leaving the hospital,
  • the care is under the direction of a consultant and,
  • the care involves ongoing monitoring by healthcare professionals arranged by the hospital when your child was an inpatient

• palliative or end of life care

Time off

All colleagues are entitled to take neonatal care leave, it doesn't matter how long you've worked here or how many hours you work, as long as you are taking the leave to care for the child and:

If at the date of the child's birth you are

• the child's parent and have responsibility for their upbringing or
• the partner of the child's mother/birthing parent and have main responsibility for the upbringing of the child (aside from the mother)
• the intended parent of a child through a surrogacy arrangement where you or your partner is genetically related to the child and you have or expect to have responsibility for the upbringing of the child

Or

If at the date the child is placed with you, or at the date the child enters Great Britain (for an overseas adoption), you are:

• the child's adopter (including where you are having a baby through a surrogate and you or your partner is not genetically related to the child) and have or expect to have responsibility for the upbringing of the child, or
• the child's prospective adopter (in a "foster to adopt" arrangement) and have or expect to have responsibility for the upbringing of the child, or
• the partner of the child's adopter or prospective adopter and have main responsibility for the upbringing of the child (apart from your partner)

To be clear, if both parents work for the Co-op, then they will both be entitled to neonatal care leave.

We ask that you let your manager know as soon as you can if your baby has been admitted into neonatal care for at least 7 consecutive days so that they know what is happening, can discuss with you your leave options, and give you the support that you need. A call, text or WhatsApp is fine. There are some forms discussed in this policy which will need to be completed by we ask that you completed these when you are able.

Eligibility for Neonatal care leave

To be eligible for neonatal care leave, your child must start receiving neonatal care within 28 days from the day after they were born, and the care must last for seven days or longer without interruption (the seven days are counted from the day after the neonatal care started).

The amount of neonatal care leave that you can take is one week for every week your child spends in neonatal care without interruption, up to a maximum of 12 weeks. For example, if your child is in receipt of neonatal care for 20 consecuative days, you will be entitlted to 2 weeks neonatal care leave. If you child is in receipt of neonatal care for 21 continuous days, you will be entitled to 3 weeks neonatal care leave.

In the unfortunately event that your child is admitted to neonatal care (for a period of at least 7 consecutive days), discharged, and then readmitted to neonatal care (for a period of at least 7 consecutive days), providing that the second admittance occurs within 28 days of the birth, both instances will count towards neonatal care leave.

In cases of multiple births, the maximum entitlement is still capped at 12 weeks.

How neonatal care leave can be taken

Any neonatal care leave has to be taken within 68 weeks of your child's date of birth.

The right to neonatal care leave is in addition to any other leave that you may be entitled to such as maternity, adoption, paternity, parental bereavement, or shared parental leave.

You can take neonatal care leave whilst your child is still receiving neonatal care or after other family leave has been taken.

Neonatal care leave is abilable to take in two tiers:

Neonatal care leave during the Tier 1 period

The Tier 1 period begins when your child starts receiving neonatal care and ends of the seventh day after your child is discharged. You can take neonatal care leave from day 9 of your child receiving neonatal care.

It is most likely to be used by parents who are not entitled to or have exhausted other statutory family leave (e.g. the child's father, birth parent's partner, or, in adoption cases, the parent not taking adoption leave).

If you take neonatal care leave in the tier 1 period, you can take it in one continuous block or a number of non-continuous blocks of at least one week at a time.

For each weeks of leave you wish to take in the tier 1 period, please let your line manager know before you are due to start work or if this isn't possible, as soon as is reasonably practicable. We understand this will be a challenging time- a call, text or WhatsApp will be fine.

So we can process your leave, we ask that you complete an application for neonatal care leave form. We don't expect you to complete this straightaway whilst your child is receiving neonatal care. We ask that you sent this to us within 28 days of the first day of neonatal care leave or if this is not possible as soon as it is reasonable practicable for you to do so, so that we can confirm your entitlement to neonatal care leave and pay and process it. Your manager can help by completing the "colleague details" section of the form.

Neonatal care leave taken during the Tier 2 period

The Tier 2 period is any time from the second week following your child being discharged from neonatal care and within 68 weeks after your child's date of birth.

This is most likely to be used by parents already on maternity or adoption leave, so they can take all their maternity or adoption leave first and add neonatal care leave onto the end to extend their leave.

As the period of compulsory maternity leave must start once a baby is born, it is expected that colleagues taking maternity leave will take the neonatal care at the end of the maternity leave. Colleagues taking maternity leave cannot start neonatal care leave once the baby is born and take maternity leave at a later date.

Colleagues cannot pause maternity leave or adoption leave to take neonatal care leave and then return to the original leave.

Any neonatal care leave taken in this period must be taken in one continuous block.

If you wish to take a single week of neonatal care leave during the tier 2 period, please let your line manager know in writing 15 days before you want it to start. You can cancel it by giving the same amount of notice.

For two or more weeks of neonatal care leave you wish to take during the tier 2 period, please let your line manager know in writing 28 days before you want to start it. You can cancel it by giving the same amount of notice.

Again, you'll need to complete an application for neonatal leave form and we ask that you complete it as soon as it is reasonably practicable for you to do so, so we can confirm your entitlement to neonatal care leave and pay and process it. Your manager can help by completing the "colleague details" section of the form.

To cancel a request, please complete the request to cancel neonatal care leave form and give it to your manager.

Examples of how leave may be taken

We know the tier system may be confusing and so have provided a couple of examples which may be useful:

Colleague using neonatal care leave in the tier 1 period only

Example

• Baby is born 15th June 2025 and is in neonatal care from 15th June until 24th July 2025. Colleague is the non-pregnant parent and has only been employed by us since 1st April 2025
• Colleague is not entitled to non-pregnant parent leave
• Colleague is entitled to 5 weeks neonatal care leave and takes this from 24th June until 29th July 2025

Colleague using neonatal care leave across the tier 1 period and the tier 2 period

Example

• Baby is born on 30th April 2025
• Colleague takes 4 weeks paternity leave from 1st May 2025
• Baby receives 11 weeks of neonatal care from 2nd May 2025
• Paternity leave ends on 28th May 2025
• Colleague takes 4 weeks neonatal care leave starting on 29th May 2025
• Colleague returns to work on 26th June 2025
• Baby is discharged on 17th July 2025
• Colleague takes one more week neonatal care leave in tier 1 commencing 17th July 2025
• Colleague takes 6 weeks neonatal care leave in tier 2 commencing 24th July 2025

Example

• Baby is born on 12 April 2025
• Colleague takes 2 weeks Co-Adopter leave from 13th April 2025 until 26th April 2025
• Baby receives 4 weeks of neonatal care leave from 13th April 2025
• Colleague takes 2 weeks neonatal care leave from 27th April 2025
• Colleague decides to use the remaining 2 weeks of Co-Adopter leave and remaining 2 weeks of neonatal care leave in the tier 2 period and returns to work
• Colleague takes remaining 2 weeks of Co-Adopter leave and remaining 2 weeks of neonatal leave just before the child’s first birthday, taking Co-Adopter leave from 15th to 28th March 2026 and neonatal care leave from 29th March to 11th April 2026.

Colleague using neonatal leave in the tier 2 period only

Example

• Colleague starts 52 weeks maternity leave on 8th April 2025.
• Baby is born on 15th April 2025.
• Baby receives 6 weeks neonatal care from 17th April 2025.
• Colleague remains on maternity leave and this finishes on 7th April 2026
• Colleagues takes 6 weeks neonatal care leave starting on 8th April 2026
• Colleague takes 58 weeks leave in total

Example

• Baby is due on 5th May 2025
• Colleague is due to start maternity leave on 27th April 2025
• Baby is born prematurely on 6th April 2025
• Maternity leave starts 7th April 2025 (Manager needs to contact HR Services to let them know)
• Colleague starts 39 weeks maternity leave on 7th April 2025
• Baby receives 8 weeks neonatal care from 8th April 2025
• Colleagues’ maternity leave finishes on 4th January 2026
• Colleague takes 8 weeks neonatal care leave starting on 5th January 2026
• Colleague takes 47 weeks leave in total
• Colleague then takes the annual leave they have accrued during maternity and neonatal leave

Example

• Baby is born on 28th April
• Colleague takes 4 weeks Co-Adopter leave from 29th April 2025
• Baby receives neonatal care for one week from 30th April 2025
• Co-Adopter leave ends on 26th May 2025
• Colleague takes one week of neonatal care leave starting on 27th May 2025
• Colleague takes 5 weeks leave in total

Example where twins are both in neonatal care, but at different times

• Twins are born on 12th April 2025
• Twin A is admitted to neonatal care at birth. The neonatal care lasts for two weeks, and they are discharged on 27th April 2025
• Twin B is admitted to neonatal care a week after birth on 19th April 2025. The neonatal care lasts two weeks and they are discharged on 4th May 2025.
• The twins’ parents would both be entitled to 3 weeks neonatal care leave

If you have been affected as a family member (as a grandparent for example) and need time off to support your loved one, please refer to our Emergency Leave Policy.

Neonatal Care Leave Pay

Here at the Co-op, we support colleagues by giving enhanced Neonatal care pay referred to as Co-op Neonatal Care Pay (CNCP). This will be given to colleagues who take neonatal care leave and qualify for Statutory Neonatal Care Pay (SNCP).

To qualify for statutory neonatal care pay you will need to have been working here for 26 weeks by the end of the relevant week and be earning above the lower earnings limit (at least £125 per week on average). You will need to be employed by the Co-op on the date your child is born or placed for adoption including through a foster to adopt placement.

The ‘relevant week’ depends on the type of statutory family-related pay to which you are entitled:

• If you are entitled to statutory maternity pay, or statutory paternity pay (birth) the relevant week is the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth
• If you are entitled to statutory adoption pay or statutory paternity pay (adoption), the relevant week is the week in which you are notified of being matched with the child for adoption purposes
• Otherwise, the relevant week is the week immediately before the week in which the neonatal care begins.

You will also have to give notice as follows:-

To be paid for neonatal care leave taken within the Tier 1 Period –

• within 28 days from the first day of leave in which the period relates to or if this is not possible, as soon as reasonably practicable.

To be paid for neonatal care leave taken within the Tier 2 Period -

• for a single week, written notice at least 15 days before the first day of neonatal care leave.
• for a period of two or more weeks, written notice at least 28 days’ notice before the first day of leave in which the period it relates to, or if this is not possible, as soon as reasonably practicable.

If you’ve got more than one Co-op job, we’ll calculate your entitlement to SNCP and CNCP using your combined earnings across all of your roles to calculate your pay.

The current rate of CNCP is full pay (pro-rata if you work part time) based on your basic contractual hours of work, up to a maximum of 12 weeks, dependent on how many weeks your child spends in neonatal care without interruption.

Just so you know, to the extent that it is enhanced above SNCP, CNCP is a discretionary benefit and isn’t part of your terms and conditions of employment. This means that the Co-op has the right to withdraw CNCP at any time, but we won't do this if you are already receiving it.

If you leave the Co-op while you’re still entitled to CNCP it will stop on the day you leave, unless you leave because of redundancy. You’ll still get any remaining weeks of SNCP that you’re entitled to as a lump sum.

If you qualify for CNCP this will be paid through our normal pay run. If you don't qualify you may not get a payslip during your neonatal care leave.

If you suffer a bereavement

If you have accrued entitlement to neonatal care leave you can still take this if your baby dies.

This equally applies to parents who have adopted or those seeking to adopt (including those adopting from overseas) when either the placement of the baby is disrupted, or the baby dies.

Under these circumstances you would also be entitled to Parental Bereavement leave.

If you have any questions about parental bereavement leave and pay, please speak to your manager. If managers need advice they can contact ER Services.

Things to think about

Counselling

You can access free, professional and confidential counselling 24 hours a day through our Colleague Support Programme.
You can contact the Colleague Support Programme on 08088 021 122. Most calls go straight through to a counsellor but if you are at the point of crisis please phone the Samaritans on 116123 to speak to a crisis counsellor.

Holidays

Your holiday entitlement will continue to accrue whilst you are on Neonatal care leave. If your bank holidays aren’t already included in your holiday entitlement, you’ll also get hours in lieu of any bank holidays which fall during your Neonatal care leave. Remember that once you’re back at work the normal arrangements for carrying holidays forward will apply.

Pensions

If you’re a member of a Co-op pension scheme you will continue to be a member during your leave. Whilst you’re getting CNCP your pension contributions will be based on the actual pay you receive each period. During any unpaid period of neonatal leave all pension contributions will stop. Contact the pensions department for more information.

Other benefits

If you get any other benefits that you contribute to through a salary sacrifice arrangement, contact HR Services to find out how Neonatal care Leave may affect these.

If you get any other contractual non-salary benefits, such as a car or medical insurance, these will continue throughout your Neonatal care leave.

Returning to Work

We don’t assume to understand how colleagues whose babies require neonatal care will feel about coming back to work. We know that the experience will affect colleagues differently and know that for some colleagues the transition back to work may be challenging.

There might be reasonable adjustments we can make at work to help you cope if you find things difficult. These are likely to be temporary changes while you adjust to coming back to work.

You can use a Wellbeing Action Plan to identify how your experience has impacted you at work and use this to discuss any changes you might need with your manager. You can read more about Wellbeing Action Plans in our Mental Health Policy.

Your manager might suggest that you speak to our independent Colleague Support Programme, to get some help and advice.

If you need further support

Remember we have a Colleague Support Programme which gives you access to a 24/7 colleague helpline - 08088 021 122. Rest assured; this is a completely confidential, independent helpline which is free to access.

If you have any queries about Neonatal leave, please speak to your manager. If Managers need advice they can contact ER Services or HR Services.

The charity Bliss for babies born premature or sick provide emotional and practical support and can be contacted by email at hello@bliss.org.uk. You can find more information on their website Support | Bliss Tommy’s charity have an advice line 0800 014 7800 and more information on their website Organisations for support around premature birth | Tommy's There is also more information at Special care: ill or premature babies - NHS