Figures › Maternity, paternity, adoption and other family pay

Statutory Neonatal Care Pay: maximum weeks

The most weeks of Statutory Neonatal Care Pay anyone can get, however long the care lasts.

12weeks

Corroborated Statutory Instrument Great Britain in force since 2025-04-06

Checked against its sources: statute verified 2026-09-21·guidance verified 2026-09-21

Scope: 12 weeks is the maximum, not an entitlement: a week accrues only for each full 7 days of neonatal care. Where two or more children are in neonatal care at the same time the 12 weeks are not multiplied. The weekly rate is a separate figure.

Current sources

Source A · Legislationhttps://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/376/made (SI 2025/376 reg 7(2) as made: "The maximum number of weeks in respect of which a person is entitled to payments of statutory neonatal care pay is 12 weeks"; in force 6 April 2025, reg 1(2))

retrieved 2026-09-08

Source B · Official guidancehttps://www.gov.uk/neonatal-care-pay-leave ("You can get one week's leave for every 7 full and continuous days your baby is in neonatal care, for up to 12 weeks")

retrieved 2026-07-29

History

Value	From	To	Status	Sources
12	2025-04-06	—	Corroborated	Legislation: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/376/made (SI 2025/376 reg 7(2) as made: "The maximum number of weeks in respect of which a person is entitled to payments of statutory neonatal care pay is 12 weeks"; in force 6 April 2025, reg 1(2)) retrieved 2026-09-08 Official guidance: https://www.gov.uk/neonatal-care-pay-leave ("You can get one week's leave for every 7 full and continuous days your baby is in neonatal care, for up to 12 weeks") retrieved 2026-07-29

Receipt

Everything above is reproducible and independently checkable — no trust in this site required (how verification works).

Figure ID: employment.sncp.max_weeks
Record fields (source type · unit · jurisdiction · status): si·weeks·GB·corroborated
Record hash (canonical JSON, SHA-256): sha256:1fb1dba3af3145c8cabc96afb297274d20880cfa98a92209ab1d1db6b32911fa
Source snapshots (SHA-256): Legislation: sha256:210679dfb6ff6e6a38d13b5ce31c00c7b6e031c9b49cd23fdb565d23974f8670; Official guidance: sha256:c5c0cbc7ca7dd1c3807bdc550fee5750299227c757dc5cedc337f98bcb4f0032
Listed in the signed manifest: release 3.0.0 manifest · record_hashes["employment.sncp.max_weeks"]
Machine-readable record: /v1/figures/employment.sncp.max_weeks · current only: /v1/figures/employment.sncp.max_weeks/current

Compiler's notes

An SI carry (ADR-0014), and a HOST-STATES one: no textual amendment touches regulation 7, so the 2025 Regulations state the value by their own words. Note the contrast with Statutory Neonatal Care Pay: weekly rate in the same instrument, which the 2026 up-rating Order substitutes and which therefore DERIVES under NF-1 — a derivation beats a carry, and the two rows of one instrument are evidenced differently for that reason.