The number of parents in the Netherlands taking advantage of the new parental leave scheme has risen sharply in the past year, according to new figures from the state benefits agency UWV.

More new parents taking parental leave in the Netherlands

The UWV saw a 20-percent increase in the number of applications for parental leave in the second year of the scheme. Between August 2023 and August 2024, more than 170.000 applications were received by the agency, of which around 90 percent were approved. In the same period of the previous year, 140.000 applications were received. 

About 40 percent of applications received over the past year came from fathers, according to the figures. That’s a significant increase on the previous year, when 33 percent of applications came from fathers. Parental leave is therefore still being requested by mothers more often, but the ratio is becoming more equal. 

On average, parents took 8,2 weeks of the nine weeks of paid parental leave available to them. People working part-time hours also tended to take parental leave more often than people working full-time. 

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Social Affairs said the increase was a “positive development”, nu.nl reports. They said that the increase could probably be explained by the fact that more people are now becoming aware of the relatively new scheme, and so are applying. 

Multiple parental leave schemes available in the Netherlands

Available since August 2022, the parental leave scheme enables new parents to take nine weeks of leave in the first year following the birth of their child. During the paid leave, they receive 70 percent of their usual salary. 

The paid parental leave is offered in the Netherlands on top of the 16 weeks of maternity leave that all new mothers receive, the six weeks of partner leave (one week on full pay; five weeks on 70-percent pay) that partners are also entitled to take within the first six months of the birth, and the 17 weeks of unpaid parental leave that all parents are entitled to until their child reaches the age of eight. 

As this makes clear, parental leave schemes in the Netherlands are something of a patchwork. Last spring, former minister of social affairs Karien van Gennip said that she wanted to rejig and cut back on the many parental leave regulations, which she said were causing confusion.