Glasgow City Council give go-ahead for extra paid leave for employees with premature and sick babies

Parents working for Glasgow City Council who have premature and sick babies in hospital are to get extra paid leave.

Councillors gave the go-ahead for the council to take immediate steps to roll out the time off with pay to support employees of babies in neonatal care ahead of a new law due in April 2025.

Speaking at this week’s city administration committee meeting, SNP councillor Allan Casey, said: “Whilst the neonatal care pay and leave legislation is widely welcomed it may be 18 months before it is implemented so campaigners are urging the Government to adjust their implementation guideline and bring it in earlier and for it to go further.”

The convenor for workforce added: “Campaigners are therefore calling on employers to provide support above and beyond the new statutory requirements.”

As a result Glasgow is signing up to the ‘Employer with Heart’ Charter 2.0 – an initiative by the charity – The Smallest Things.

The charter means employers can provide even better support than the new statutory requirements

Councillor Casey said: “Our staff are are the most important asset and we must strive to do all we can to support them especially when they are going through the most difficult of times.”

Parents whose premature babies are in neonatal care will get “an extra weeks’ leave at full pay for every week until their child’s official due date” according to recommendations in a council report approved by the committee.

And council workers with full-term babies who are sick in hospital getting neonatal care “should receive an extra week’s leave at full pay for every week their baby remains in the ward.”

Councillor Dan Hutchison, Scottish Greens, said everyone involved is delighted the extra leave will be introduced ahead of schedule.

The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill aims to give parents emotional and financial support during a stressful time.