Parents in the Netherlands are to be given more paid leave after having a baby. The Deputy Prime Minister has said this “will make it possible for some 200.000 parents to both work and spend more time at home.”

Paid parental leave for parents

Currently, parents are entitled to 26 weeks of unpaid leave during the first eight years of a child’s life. However, many people cannot afford to take the unpaid leave, with just a third of parents taking advantage of the scheme. For this reason, new parents are to be given more paid parental leave from 2022.

From August 2022, parents who have recently had a baby will be able to claim 50 percent of their daily pay for the first nine weeks of parental leave but only if this is taken before the child’s first birthday. This was announced by Wouter Koolmees, the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, who explained that parents would be paid a maximum of 110 euros per day and that the remaining 17 weeks of leave can still be taken, up to the child’s eighth birthday.

Childcare in the Netherlands

The Dutch government has recently introduced some new measures aimed at making life easier for new parents across the country. Since January 2019, partners of new mothers have been entitled to five days paid leave and, from this July, they will be able to take another five weeks off, at 70 percent of their salary, in the first six months since the birth.

In contrast, mothers already have a right to take 16 to 20 weeks paid leave, as well as the extra nine weeks in 2022. “Our tax system, our childcare and our norms and values ensure in many cases that fathers work full time and mothers work part-time and care for the children,” said Ingrid van Engelshoven, Minister of Education, Culture and Science.

The minister stated her desire to bring more balance to the division of work and childcare between mothers and fathers. “Some new fathers feel forced to work more hours and mothers to put more time into care duties. I want to change that. By partly paying for parental leave, we are giving people more space to make choices and bring more balance to the division between work and care duties.”