Three government-backed Private Members’ Bills that give parents and unpaid carers new protections at work received Royal Assent on 24 May 2023. These are:

• the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 – this legislation will enable eligible employed parents whose baby is admitted to neonatal care to take up to twelve weeks’ paid neonatal leave (paid at a prescribed statutory rate), in addition to existing leave entitlements such as maternity and paternity leave
• the Carer’s Leave Act 2023 – this legislation will introduce a new right for eligible employees who are unpaid carers of a dependant with a long-term care need to take up to one week of flexible unpaid carer’s leave per year
• the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023 – this legislation will allow for the extension of the redundancy protection period while on maternity, adoption or shared parental leave to cover both pregnancy and a period of time after the new parent has returned to work. This redundancy protection provides a right for the provisionally redundant new parent to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy, where one exists, in priority to other employees who are also at risk of redundancy.

The government will lay down secondary legislation in due course to implement these new entitlements. The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 is expected to take effect from April 2025. A date for implementation of the provisions in the Carer’s Leave Act 2023 is yet to be announced, but it is unlikely to be before April 2024. The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023 will come into force at the end of the period of two months beginning with the day on which the Act was passed.

Source: New feed