Marks & Spencer has announced a new policy which will give families of premature babies or babies that need additional care when they are born, extra leave and pay to spend vital time with their new-born without colleagues having to worry about work or using up their maternity, paternity, or adoption leave.

Every year, over 90,000 babies are cared for in neonatal units in the UK because they have either been born prematurely (before 37 weeks of pregnancy) or full term (after 37 weeks) but sick. This means that around 1 in 7 babies born in the UK are admitted to a neonatal unit every year*.

Coming into effect immediately, M&S is one of the first retailers to introduce a Neonatal Leave Policy that provides up to 12 weeks’ fully paid leave to any UK colleague whose baby requires specialist neonatal care.

The impetus to introduce the policy was Pam Hedderman, a Food Sections Manager at the M&S in Ealing Broadway. Pam got speaking to Jess Cooper – who works in the People team at M&S’ Support Centre in London - when she was helping out in her local store over the busy Christmas period. Jess found out that Pam’s son, Harrison, had a very difficult start to life when he was born prematurely; weighing 768 grams, he was no bigger than Pam’s hand.

Pam ended up spending six months of her maternity leave in hospital with Harrison which meant she had very little time at home with him before returning to work. Jess felt inspired by Pam and Harrison’s story and set to work to influence M&S to introduce Neonatal Leave to support those who need it most.

Sarah Findlater, Group HR Director at M&S, said: “We’re continually listening to colleagues – like Pam and Jess – to make sure M&S is a great place to work for families and that means being an employer that supports them through all of life’s unexpected moments. We know that being a parent of a baby who requires neonatal care is an incredibly worrying time and that time may be spent with their baby in hospital, rather than at home. We want to do all we can to support colleagues who find themselves in this heart-breaking situation and we hope the introduction of Neonatal Leave will provide some peace of mind so that their focus can be on their baby without having to worry about pay or using up their maternity, paternity or adoption leave.”

The introduction of Neonatal Leave is part of M&S’ focus on providing more support and flexibility to its colleagues so they don’t miss out on the moments that really matter. M&S’ new flexible working offering- Worklife- launched last year with the aim of helping colleagues achieve a work/life balance. Through the programme over 3,000 Retail Managers have additional flexible working options to choose from including spreading their hours over five days or to work a four-day compressed week or nine day compressed fortnight. In addition, all colleagues have access to a Job Share Finder platform which enables them to connect with potential job share matches.

Last year, M&S launched a dedicated fertility treatment policy giving colleagues up to 10 days off to attend appointments for up to three rounds of fertility treatment.