The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health presented today its latest family leave reform. The new model implies more paid leave days and same amount of days for mother and father. The goal is improving the wellbeing of families and increasing gender equality.
"The reform will support all kinds of families and ensure equal leaves for children regardless of the form of the family. Sharing parent responsibilities in everyday life will become easier, and the relationship between both parents and the child will be strengthened from the early childhood," says Aino-Kaisa Pekonen, Minister of Social Affairs and Health.
Increasing the number of daily allowance days would increase the costs of the daily allowance scheme by an estimated 100 million of euros. The reform will enter into force in autumn 2021 at the earliest.
What are the changes?
- Both parents would receive an equal quota of 164 daily allowance days (approximately 6.6 months).
- The total amount of daily allowance days would grow from the current 11.5 months to more than 14 months.
- Parents could transfer 69 days from their own quota to the other parent.
- A pregnant mother would have a separate daily allowance period of approximately one month before the parental allowance period starts.
- A single parent would have access to the daily allowance quotas for both parents.
