Government plans to extend parental leave to six months

THE Government plans to extend parental leave after a baby’s birth to six months. The Minister of Social Rights, Ione Belarra, has announced the Government’s intention to extend parental leave for the birth and care of the baby, which is currently 16 weeks, to six months.

“Paternity and maternity leave must be generally up to six months”, and the Ministry of Social Rights will negotiate with the PSOE to include this extension in the family diversity law that it is preparing. This was announced this Wednesday, July 14, by the minister of the sector, Ione Belarra, in an event organized to present the first draft of a rule that will begin to be processed next year and that Unidos Podemos wants that, in addition to this possible extension of the permits, including the introduction of a “universal” benefit for dependent children.

“This Ministry with that of Equality we are going to work so that the permits are extended to six months and to extend infant education from 0 to 3 years in the public network of infant schools,” the head of Social Rights assured in a Conference on the Family Diversity Law. Spain currently ranks second in  Europe with the lowest birth rate. For Belarra, the Government has “a pending account with the families of newborn babies” and their problems “to reconcile in the first years of life” or to be able to carry out exclusive breastfeeding and get into work, as reported by 20 Minutos.

The idea of ​​the Government has also been proposed from other forums. The leader of Ciudadanos, Inés Arrimadas, also proposed this year to increase paternity and maternity leave to 24 weeks progressively until 2024. An initiative that the ​party registered in Congress and that also contemplated the 100% bonus of the Social Security quotas for workers.