Neonatal Care Leave

New legislation has recently been passed which means from 6 April 2025, a new type of statutory or family leave is now available for parents of newborn babies who need intensive care. Neonatal care leave applies to parents of children born on or after 6 April 2025 and enables a parent to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave.

Neonatal Care Leave is pensionable in the following circumstances:

• Statutory Neonatal Care Pay

You may be entitled to Statutory Neonatal Care Pay. If you’re eligible, you’ll receive the lower of £187.18 a week (2025/26) or 90% of their average weekly earnings. This’ll be paid to you in the same way as you receive your salary (e.g. whether this is weekly or monthly), taking account of any deductions for tax and National Insurance. This again is pensionable in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, and you’ll be treated as being in receipt of full pay for the purposes of pension accrual.

• Neonatal Care Leave which is at least half pay

Neonatal Care Leave which is at least half pay, will also be pensionable in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.

In both cases, you’ll continue to accrue benefits on your full pensionable salary. You’ll also remain covered for in-service death benefits while on Neonatal Care Leave.

Carer’s Leave

Carer’s leave was introduced on 6 April 2024. Unlike Neonatal care leave, it’s unpaid. Nevertheless, should your employer continue to pay at least half pay to you while you’re on Carer’s Leave, you’ll continue to accrue further benefits in the Scheme. If, however, you receive less than half pay e.g. nil pay, it’ll revert to non-pensionable.

If your Carer's leave is unpaid (or less than half of your normal salary), it’ll count as Family Leave. This means that even though you may be receiving nil pay, you’ll still be classed as 'in-service' and continue to receive all the benefits of an in-service membership, such as in-service death benefits and in-service pensions increase. The leave itself will go on your record as days excluded.