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Written question asked by Baroness Penn (Conservative) on Friday, 20 March 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 7 April 2026. It was answered by Lord Livermore (Labour) on Thursday, 2 April 2026 on behalf of the Treasury.

Parental Leave and Parental Pay

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what the breakdown is of the uptake of neonatal care leave and pay by (1) mothers, and (2) fathers, since 6 April 2025.

Answer

Parents cannot receive more than one statutory payment at the same time, meaning Statutory Neonatal Care Pay (SNCP) is often taken at the end of Statutory Maternity Pay and Statutory Paternity Pay. As mothers can receive up to 39 weeks of maternity pay, and SNCP was introduced from April last year, many eligible mothers will have been in receipt of maternity pay at the point the data was extracted and may not yet have claimed SNCP.

SNCP Claims in Tax Year 2025-26

Gender

Cases

Female

200

Male

1600

Notes:

1) Data collected using HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) and extracted in December 2025. RTI is subject to revision or updates.

2) Cases have been rounded to nearest 100.

3) Figures may not sum to totals due to rounding.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL15823
Session
2024-26
Subjects
Parental leave Take-up Baby care units Parental pay
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk