When maternity leave starts unexpectedly early – the need for neonatal leave now
Salma Ishaque with her son Eesa in NICU during the Covid-19 pandemic
In March, I welcomed my second baby boy into the world. Eesa was born a day before the pandemic was declared and 90 days before he was due. That isn't a typo – he was born 90 days early, at 27 weeks gestational age. Having your baby prematurely at any time is difficult, but during a global pandemic has made it unbearable: two-hour restrictions on my time with my baby, my husband not being allowed to visit at all for eight long weeks and of course not being able to see friends and family. During his stay my boy had to be resuscitated twice and the impact of the experience of having to go in alone to see him, without any support by my side, and then having to leave within two hours is difficult to fully express. The whole experience has been so isolating.
Salma’s second son Eesa was born at 27 weeks’ gestation
Maternity leave in hospital
The other day I was clearing out a few things and found the book in which I was working out my return to work date. I added my maternity leave entitlement, my annual leave and bank holidays and worked out I would return to work around the end of June 2021 That was a date based on me starting leave in June 2020. However, legally maternity leave must start as soon as the baby is born. I was on maternity leave for 95 days before my baby came home to me. For the majority of those 95 days, I was only allowed to see my baby for two hours a day.
As I said above, the day after my son was born will be remembered by history. It was also the day of the Budget. In this, the intention to introduce neonatal leave was announced and parents whose babies spend time in neonatal care were promised extra paid leave for every week their baby is in hospital, up to a maximum of 12 weeks.
This is fantastic news and down to the efforts of parents who found themselves in this situation and the charities that support them. Unfortunately, it is not due to be implemented until 2023. You can imagine how frustrating this is – that the case for this leave has been made and accepted and yet currently it’s not something I and others like me can benefit from. This is especially true given that the current pandemic and lockdown has further exacerbated the difficulties experienced by parents during their neonatal unit experience.
“The government will create an entitlement to Neonatal Leave and Pay for employees whose babies spend an extended period of time in neonatal care, providing up to 12 weeks paid leave so that parents do not have to choose between returning to work and taking care of their vulnerable newborn.”
Employer with Heart charter
However, and I would especially ask those who work in HR to note this, some employers proactively offer their employees neonatal leave. The Smallest Things sets out how employers can support parents with children in the neonatal unit in their “Employer with Heart” charter. If you work in HR, please consider implementing this in your organisation. And if you don’t directly work in HR, please could you ask your HR team to consider implementing neonatal leave.
On 6 July, the House of Commons Petitions Committee published its response to the petition entitled “Extend maternity leave by 3 months with pay in light of COVID-19”. This is for all maternity leave. The committee supports the key request in the petition. On neonatal leave, the report states:
“In advance of the planned delivery of neonatal leave and pay in 2023, the Government should pilot the introduction of these reforms for those affected by the Covid-19 outbreak. If a success, the date of the general introduction of these measures could be brought forward.”
It is clear that there is a need for neonatal leave now. We await the government response on this, so it may well be that parents like me will benefit from statutory neonatal leave. However, employers do not have to wait to offer their staff this support. At what for many will be the most difficult time of their lives, I would urge employers to consider how you can make it that bit more bearable.
Lost in separation
There were a few factors that motivated me to write this article. Perhaps the most significant is the addition to my extended family of twin babies also born at 27 weeks like my boy. It’s taken me back to those first days and made me realise how much more bearable it would have been to know that whatever time of my maternity was lost in separation, I would get it back to enjoy with my son. That in these unexpected circumstances, in unprecedented times, at least one thing would be as I had planned it.
Thanks to Salma Ishaque for sharing her story with us.