Communication and advice, daily allowance applications, paid benefits and daily allowance decisions, membership fee information, personal contact details
Parental leave will change as a result of the family leave reform that entered into force on 1 August 2022.
The family leave reform applies to families where the child’s due date is 4 September 2022 or later.
As a result of the reform, all parents who have custody of the child will have an equal right to daily allowances regardless of the gender of the parent or whether they are biological or adoptive, resident or non-resident parents.
A prerequisite for receiving parental allowance is that the person on leave takes care of the child.
In addition, a person on leave cannot be in gainful employment, other personal work, statutory annual leave or other paid leave at the same time.
Other paid leave does not apply to pregnancy, special pregnancy or parental leave, during which the employer pays wages to the employee, but in such cases the daily allowance is paid to the employer paying the wages.
Parental allowance is a general term for compensation paid for family leave.
The employee must notify the employer of the intended family leave no later than two months before the start of the leave. However, if the leave lasts no more than 12 working days, the notice must be given at least one month before the start of the leave.
Maternity leave will becomepregnancyleave. Pregnancy leave (40 days) is continuous and must be started 14–30 days before the due date.
An increased parental allowance (90% of earnings) is paid during pregnancy leave. In other words, the pregnant parent has 40 pregnancy allowance days before the parental leave days.
Paternity leave as such will disappear and be replaced by parental leave. Each parent receives its own quota of 160 days of parental allowance, of which 63 days can be transferred to the other parent, other guardian, spouse or spouse of the other parent.
For the first 16 days of the parental allowance period, the daily allowance is paid to all persons taking parental leave at an increased rate (90% of earnings). More information on the family leave reform is available on Kela’s website: Quick guide to benefits for families with children and Family leave reform brochure.
