Neonatal care leave and pay

On 6 April 2025, new statutory rights to neonatal care leave and pay came into effect. Eligible parents are entitled to up to 12 weeks’ leave from work if their baby has received qualifying neonatal care for at least seven consecutive days. Neonatal care leave is a ‘day one’ right, but the employee must meet certain criteria (including having 26 weeks’ continuous service) in order to be eligible for statutory neonatal care pay. In this blog post from earlier this year, Katherine Flower explored the new rights and what they mean for parents.

Any entitlement to neonatal care leave and pay is in addition to other statutory leave entitlements that the parents may have, such as maternity, paternity or adoption leave. The interaction with other types of leave can be complex so would need to be considered in each individual case. New Acas guidance and government guidance were launched this week to help employers and employees understand what the new rights entail.

It will be important to update your policies and handbooks to reflect these changes. Together with recent changes to paternity leave, there is now far greater flexibility for employees in terms of when and in what combination they take family leave – so make sure to look at your policies in the round. Please do get in touch with Katherine Flower or your usual Burges Salmon contact if you have any queries on the new rights or would like our help with updating your policies.

Whistleblowing protection

The Court of Appeal has reviewed the scope of whistleblowing detriment protection and has confirmed that the lack of protection for non-NHS job applicants is compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights.

The claimant was unsuccessful in her applications for two posts with the respondent. She wrote a letter to her MP with various allegations relating to the interview and interview panel and later issued a complaint to the respondent. The respondent found her complaint to be unsubstantiated and decided not to proceed to the next stage of its complaints process for a further review. The claimant issued a claim to the employment tribunal alleging that she had been subjected to a detriment because she had made a protected disclosure (in the letter to the MP).

The tribunal rejected this claim on the basis that the claimant, as a job applicant, was not entitled to protection under whistleblowing legislation, which covers workers and applicants for NHS posts only. The Court of Appeal considered the scope of this legislation and determined that non-NHS applicants are not in a materially analogous position to workers and NHS applicants and, in any event, any difference in treatment between those two groups is objectively justifiable.

(Sullivan v Isle of Wight Council)

Right to work checks

As part of its plans to clamp down on illegal working, the government has announced that it intends to extend the requirement for businesses to carry out right to work checks to ‘anyone working in their name’. This is expected to include gig economy and zero-hours workers.

A business could face a civil penalty if they have engaged an illegal worker and have not conducted valid right to work checks. The penalties can be very significant – the maximum civil penalty is currently £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach, and £60,000 per illegal worker for repeat breaches.

We will keep you posted on developments in this area – more details and an implementation date are expected in due course.

Injury to feelings awards increased

The injury to feelings awards that tribunals can make in discrimination cases increased on 6 April 2025. For claims issued on or after 6 April 2025, the new bands (known as “Vento bands”) are:

• for less serious cases, a lower band of £1,200 to £12,100;
• for cases that do not merit an award in the upper band, a middle band of £12,100 to £36,400; and
• for the most serious cases, an upper band of £36,400 to £60,700.

In the most exceptional cases, an award that exceeds £60,700 could be made.

Employment Rights Bill handbook

The Employment Rights Bill has passed its second reading in the House of Lords, with the committee stage scheduled to begin on 29 April 2025.

Don’t forget to check out our Employers’ Handbook to the Employment Rights Bill and Beyond, which helps you keep on top of all the moving parts. In the handbook, we provide an overview of all the key reforms and what they mean for employers.