This would be an entitlement to be absent from work to care for the baby, so that, as far as possible, parents have additional time at home with their child to compensate for the time their child was in hospital after birth.
The PDA is in support of the provision of Neonatal Leave and Pay. Supporting parents in the manner proposed will help to maintain their attachment to the labour market with both short-term and long-term benefits to the individual parent and their family, the economy and society.
Our recommendations included:
- Whilst appreciating that the governments’ suggestion that two weeks is the right threshold to ensure that there is no gap between the end of a father/partner’s Paternity Leave and the start of Neonatal Leave and Pay, it does not cater for those parents who are most in need – those with the most seriously ill children who are likely to spend an extended period of time in neonatal care. We would suggest that each case has 2 weeks as a right, but the option exists for this to be extended to cater for those more serious cases.
- We undertook a small survey of our members regarding the inclusion of other circumstances – the vast majority cited the example of a baby being discharged following birth only to be readmitted to hospital with a serious and potentially life-threatening condition or illness a few days later or at a later point in the baby’s first year. However, our respondents also commented on the difficulty of trying to arrive at a definitive list – no two cases likely to be the same. The view was that cases should be taken on their individual merits with the medical profession giving a lead.
- We would suggest that a reasonable notice period for Neonatal Leave for both partners would be at the point that the baby is admitted to neonatal care and then the actual notice should be given to the employer as soon as baby is discharged from neonatal care.
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