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PARENTAL LEAVE AND CARERS LEAVE: INTERNATIONAL PROVISION AND RESEARCH

Ring-fenced paid parental leave

Introduction

This section of the report focuses on the availability of ring-fenced paid parental leave, and the statutory provisions in countries that provide it. The areas of particular interest within this topic are:

  • the entitlements available in those countries that have adopted paid parental leave (including entitlement, eligibility, timing and duration);
  • the impact of ring-fencing provisions on the incidence of paid leave sharing between partners; and
  • whether barriers persist for male partners (in those countries with ring-fenced paid parental leave) to choosing optimal paid parental leave arrangements.

Most countries for which information has been included in this report offer some form of leave, paid and/or unpaid, to employees to be taken at or around the birth of a child. Comparison of provisions is a complex matter because of the variety of different combinations of arrangements, but also because of the many overlaps in linguistic and cultural meaning among the terms maternity leave, paternity leave, parental leave and childcare leave. In many countries, leave is enshrined in statute, but in others it is placed mostly in employment agreements. Most feature combinations of both. This report focuses on statutory leave provisions, but where information is available on the extent of employer provision, it will be included. For further information on supplementation in collective agreements or individual employment policies, see EIRO (2004).

Two major research reports published in the last two years provide the basic information regarding the leave provisions discussed in this report:

  • the large cross-national study of leave arrangements in 19 countries undertaken as part of the continuation of the work of the former European Commission Childcare Network (Deven and Moss, 2005); and
  • a similar study covering much the same ground (22 countries plus the province of Quebec) undertaken by members of the International Network on Leave Policy and Research, which includes an account of discussions at a seminar of members held in London in November 2005 (Moss and O'Brien, 2006).

Both of these reports provide details about a variety of paid and unpaid leave provisions, and include tables that set out patterns of provision by country. The range of countries included in the two reports is not identical, but both include most of the EU - original, recent and prospective members, non-EU European countries, and three non-European members of the OECD e.g. Australia, Canada and the United States. New Zealand is not included in either report. The 2006 report omits Austria, but includes the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Slovenia, and Quebec[2] in addition to the countries in the first report, making a total of 23 countries for which detailed information about leave provisions is available.

On the basis of the evidence in the two reports, countries providing some combination of paid maternity, paternity, paternity and/or childcare leave provided by statute include: Austria, Belgium, Canada (including Quebec), the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.[3] Appendix 1 provides a table of summarised details regarding provision of statutory leave entitlements in the countries included in both of the reports. New Zealand could be included in this list of countries with a certain amount of paid leave available by statute. In each of the two publications, country notes provide further details regarding eligibility, entitlement, timing and duration of the different leaves available by statute.

Because of the differences among between countries regarding the identification of different categories of leave, both of the reports focus on the total amount of post-natal leave available, in order to make comparisons. Moss advises (Moss and O'Brien 2006:44) that in general terms, countries divide up into those where continuous post-natal leave available, including maternity leave, parental leave and childcare leave, comes to around nine to 15 months (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Slovenia and the United Kingdom), and those where continuous leave can run up to 3 years (Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Portugal and Spain). Sweden falls roughly in between at around 18 months if the leave available is taken continuously.

Two countries stand out from what appears to be a pattern of paid leave provision for eligible parents, often followed by a further entitlement to unpaid leave: the United States and Australia. Although no statutory paid leave as such is provided in Australia (parental leave is unpaid), recent years have seen the introduction of a lump sum payment for each birth for all mothers, irrespective of their employment circumstances. The money provided by the state to employed parents when a baby is born would therefore compensate (to a fairly low extent) for loss of income for an employed parent around the time of a birth. In the United States, the lack of any statutory leave specifically for birth and parenting young children is partly addressed (for eligible employees, and in workplaces with over 50 employees) by the broader provisions of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which includes childbirth and care of babies among other mostly medical reasons for which unpaid leave can be taken. Five states do provide benefit payments to parents missing work around the time of childbirth - California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island; and the territory of Puerto Rico.

In Austria, Czech Republic, France and Germany, the payments are made whether or not an employed parent takes the leave they are entitled to.

Provision of paid maternity and paid paternity leave

Leaving aside the provision of parental leave, this section focuses on the statutory provision of paid maternity and paternity leave. The information in Appendix 1 provides a quick reference to identify the countries where there are separate entitlements to paid maternity and/or to paid paternity leave. Among the 23 countries, those providing statutory paid maternity leave include Austria, Belgium, Canada (and Quebec), Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Where a specific period of maternity leave is provided, the duration is usually between 14 and 20 weeks, with a high level of earnings-related payment[4] (i.e. at a level greater than 50 per cent of earnings), in comparison with the lower level of payment available (i.e. lower than 50 per cent of earnings, or not universal, or for less than the period of leave) such as in Ireland and the United Kingdom. It is probable that different rules are applied in different countries regarding the four countries that have extended paid plus unpaid maternity leave: the Czech Republic (28 weeks: high rate for the paid proportion); Ireland (34 weeks: low rate), the United Kingdom (52 weeks: low rate), and Hungary (24 weeks: (rate depends on insurance status).

Many more countries provide paid leave for maternity than for paternity, although the number of countries where paid paternity leave is provided has risen in recent years. However, paid maternity leave is not available in Australia, Sweden or the United States. Neither Australia nor the United States provides statutory paid maternity, paternity or parental leaves as such. In Sweden, however, the lack of paid maternity leave is a consequence of the entitlement to paid parental leave, which starts before the birth of the child, obviating the need for a separate maternity leave entitlement. The same logic is not applied to paternity leave in Sweden, however, with a separate father-only entitlement to paid paternity leave.

Countries where paid paternity leave is provided include Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Payments are at the higher level in all of these countries, except Estonia, Slovenia and the United Kingdom, where the pay is at the lower level. The period of paid leave varies from two days to around two weeks, and is usually paid on the same basis as maternity leave. Paternity leave is usually not transferable to the mother, and fathers must be eligible by virtue of their employment or residency.

The countries that provide paid maternity leave but not paid paternity leave include Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, and Norway. Of these, only Canada and Norway provide unpaid paternity leave by statute. In Iceland, three months' paid leave (i.e. separate from the family entitlement to parental leave) is available to fathers, but the timing when fathers can take it is not restricted to the period after the birth. In Moss and O'Brien's (2006) view, this does not constitute paternity leave. In many of these countries, however, fathers/partners can access paid leave at some stage, mostly where parental leave is transferable to them by the mother, or where it is a family entitlement to be distributed between the parents as they choose. In a very few countries, fathers/partners can even access paid maternity leave in cases where the mother dies or is seriously ill after the birth.

Because the boundaries and definitions are inconsistent in both meaning and application among the different countries regarding exactly what leave is available to each partner around the time of birth and during the first few months of a child's life, there is little to be gained from further country comparison at this level. Each country's leave structure, paid or unpaid, is essentially a result of its unique combination of social and economic policies.

Provision of Paid Parental Leave

Of the 23 countries surveyed for the two reports, paid parental leave was available by statute in all countries except Australia, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. The usual pattern is for eligibility for paid parental leave to follow on from paid maternity and/or paternity leave, providing an extension to the period of continuous leave a parent can take after a birth or adoption. The United States is the only country where no statutory leave of any kind is available for parenting purposes - all of the others at least provide unpaid parental leave. In contrast, in Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, paid maternity leave and paid paternity leave are both available by statute, with payments set at the higher level. Only in Ireland and the United Kingdom was unpaid parental leave combined with paid maternity leave at the lower rate (both countries), and with paternity leave that was unpaid in Ireland, and paid at the low rate in the United Kingdom.

The prevalence of parental leave policies in the group of countries reviewed reflects the dominance of EU member states in the sample. Minimum standards for maternity and for parental leaves determined by this supra-national body are set out in the EU Council Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October 1992 on measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding; and Council Directive 96/34/EC of 3 June 1996 which gives legal effect to a framework agreement on parental leave agreed by social partners in 1995. All EU states must provide at least three months leave per parent for childcare purposes, but no payment or flexibility requirements are included. This leave is separate from maternity leave, which is for health and welfare purposes.

Parental leave provisions vary among the countries that provide it in the following basic ways, with no particularly consistent combinations of factors (see Appendix 1):

  • Length - the countries form two groups, where in the first, the total continuous leave available (maternity, paternity, parental and childcare leave) comes to around nine - 15 months, and the second, where continuous leave can reach three years (not always with payment, though).
  • Basis of entitlement - three of the countries' entitlement criteria for parental leave are based on a mix of family and individual entitlements, with the remainder divided equally between individual entitlements (which may or may not be transferable), and family entitlements where the leave can be divided between the parents as they choose.
  • Payment - In 15 countries, payment is provided to parents taking parental leave. In seven of these, the payment is rather low, i.e. a flat rate or means tested or paid for only part of the period, or a combination of these. Only eight countries pay an earnings-related benefit set at more than half of normal earnings.
  • Flexibility - there are four main forms: first, being able to use all or part of the leave at times chosen by the parents, until the child reaches a certain age (three or eight are common); second, being able to take leave in one block or in shorter blocks of time; third, being able to take leave on a full-time or on a part-time basis in combination with part-time paid work; and fourth, being able to take additional leave in special circumstances such as multiple birth, serious illness, having a child with a disability, etc.
  • Additional employment flexibility - nine countries enable women to reduce their working hours in the 12 months after the birth (usually to accommodate breast-feeding), with an entitlement to earnings compensation, and in four countries, parents have a legal right to request flexible working arrangements from employers, who must agree unless there are accepted grounds for a request to be declined.

The next sections identify the statutory paid leave provisions in more detail.

Eligibility for paid parental leave

All countries in this review providing leave for parenting stipulate that the applicant must have, or expect to have, day-to-day parental responsibility. This rule makes possible the inclusion of a mother's partner who is not the child's biological father, and the exclusion of biological fathers (or mothers) who do not have day-to-day responsibility for the child. There are several ways in which countries organise eligibility for paid post-natal leave, including status as new parent whether by birth or adoption, residency in the country concerned, and employment status:

  • Status as new parent - paid leave is available to all parents who give birth, or adopt a baby or young child in Hungary (at flat rate till child is three for non-insured parents but higher in first year for insured parents);
  • Residency - In Finland, eligibility for paid (maternity, paternity and parental) leaves is based only on at least 180 days' continuous residence in Finland immediately prior to the birth. The basic formula is that anyone who is entitled to family benefits is also entitled to leave.
  • Employment - eligibility is usually based on completing a period of employment (either continuous or not, usually within a specified and recent time-frame) with the same employer. Self-employed people are often not eligible, particularly in countries where the payments are provided by employers.

The table at Appendix 2 shows the eligibility criteria for leave and for payments, in those countries with employment-related eligibility for paid leave.

Entitlements to paid parental leave

The basis of entitlement to paid parental leave is fairly evenly divided between countries with family entitlement systems, and those where entitlement is individually based. In many of the family-entitlement countries, the leave can be shared by the parents within certain constraints, the most common being that the parents cannot, except for short, specified times, both take their share of the leave at the same time. Countries where eligibility provides family entitlement systems include: Austria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany and Hungary. Iceland, Norway and Sweden operate systems that combine family with individual entitlement. Countries with individual-only entitlement systems include: Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Countries where there is a statutory entitlement to a longer amount of paid leave intended to follow paid maternity leave (usually called parental leave or childcare leave in those countries) include Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary (insured parents only), Iceland, Italy, Norway and Sweden. Among these countries, paid leave is available for up to 24 months in Austria and Germany, and 16 months in Sweden.

The table at Appendix 3 shows the length of paid parental leave entitlement in those countries which provide it.

Opportunities to share paid leave

As noted by Deven and Moss (2005) and again by Moss and O'Brien (2006:7), "information on take-up of leave entitlements is full of gaps, making systematic cross-national comparisons impossible. As a general rule, there is no statistical information on take-up of unpaid leave and limited information on paid leave." This general lack of information make it very difficult to form a view on how much 'impact' the opportunities to share paid leave have on parents, or on employers. Where payments are made, data is more likely to be available.

The countries in which the parents can share at least part of whatever combination of post-natal leave arrangements is offered, based on either family or individual entitlements include: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Appendix 4 provides details of access to paid and unpaid leave and the extent of take-up, where data is available. As noted earlier, consistent data from each country on this issue has not been available, which makes a more in-depth analysis impossible, beyond some observations regarding the impact of father-only quotas, which are discussed in the next section.

Fathers' response to access to leave entitlements, and persistence of barriers regarding take-up

Two opportunities to induce fathers to take leave are available: paternity leave and parental leave. In a number of countries getting fathers to take leave has become a policy instrument to encourage fathers/partners to provide practical help and emotional support to the mother and baby, to help with other children in the family, and also as a response to pressure for greater gender equity in family policy. Most countries began this process by providing unpaid paternity leave (and many still do). Payment is now becoming more common, since research has shown fathers are unlikely to take the leave unless it is paid, and paid at a rate that provides realistic level of compensation for their lost earnings during leave (Moss, in Moss and O'Brien 2006). Otherwise, taking leave can be unaffordable for many, who may in fact prefer to take it if they could. A further refinement of paid paternity leave policy is to make at least some of the leave compulsory (as in Belgium, Portugal, and Slovenia, or to make it non-transferable, so the entitlement to paid leave is lost unless the father/partner takes it.

An extension to this strategy, but in the context of parental leave for eligible fathers/partners are the 'Daddy days' in Norway, (n.b. unpaid by statute but paid via employment agreements) and parental leave quotas for fathers (i.e. in Iceland and Sweden, paid by statute).

As well as other information on access and take-up of paid and unpaid leave, Appendix 4 contains information that shows what paid and unpaid leave is available by statute or otherwise to fathers, and how much of that leave is typically taken up. The most common strategy is to ring-fence some of the paid leave for fathers only, usually as paid paternity leave, as in Finland, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, the United Kingdom. In Ireland there is no pay, but 14 weeks per child of parental leave for fathers is ring-fenced.

Several countries have gone further to induce fathers to take time off, and to increase the amount of time they take off, when they do. Taking some of the paid paternity leave entitlement is now compulsory in Belgium (3 days), Portugal (5 days) and Slovenia (15 days). In most countries paternity leave is non-transferable, so it is lost if not taken.

One of the more notable arrangements is in Finland, where to access the bonus parental leave of 12 extra days, fathers must take the last two weeks of their paid paternity leave. The paid paternity leave entitlement is 18 days, so this means they must take it all to qualify for the bonus. This policy initiative is credited with a sharp rise in the number of men taking parental leave (from 1,700 in 2002 to 5,300 in 2004), although the average total length of leave taken by fathers has fallen from 64 working days in 2002 to 29 in 2004. In Finland, parental leave is taken more often by men with a good employment position and a high level of education. Take-up is highest among men over 30, working in the public sector, in science or health care jobs, although men in higher-status occupations take shorter leave on average than less-educated men in lower status jobs.

In Iceland there has been no statutory paternity leave, but since 2000, three months of the paid parental leave is ring-fenced for fathers, as well as 13 weeks each year of unpaid childcare leave for fathers (and for mothers) until the child reaches 8 years. Italy is more inclusive with a separate entitlement of six months for mothers and six months for fathers, paid at a low rate when the child is under three, then unpaid until the child is eight (except for very low income families, where the low rate of payment continues).

In the Netherlands, the eligibility for the 2 days paid paternity leave does not require qualifying time with employer - only the new parent status (including same-sex couples). In Norway, four weeks of the parental leave entitlement is for fathers-only, known as 'Daddy days' - unpaid by government but paid via collective agreements. In Portugal, five of the 20 days are now obligatory and the use of the other 15 has risen rapidly; and in Sweden a large block of paid parental leave forms part of the quota for each parent (60 days for each parent, followed by another 360 days for parents to share) plus a further 18 months of unpaid leave for each parent.

In the 2006 publication, Moss advises that as a general rule, paid maternity leave appears to be extensively and fully used by mothers who are eligible (and in a number of cases using it is compulsory). There appears to be little problem getting mothers to take the paid leave they are entitled to. On the other hand, the ring-fencing provisions regarding paid paternity leave have been noticed as producing an increase in fathers' take-up of paternity leave entitlements. Take-up of paternity leave has increased, especially when it is paid (for example about 14 percent of fathers in Estonia now take paternity leave) but this does not necessarily spill over into a greater likelihood of fathers taking paid parental leave (in Estonia, only 1 percent of recipients of the leave benefit are men). It is only when part of a family's paid parental leave entitlement is designated for fathers only, and the rate of benefit is high, do fathers appear to take the leave to any great extent, for example, in Iceland where fathers took 1/3 of all leave days - an average of 94 days compared with an average of 182 for mothers.

In countries with employment-related qualifying criteria for paid leave, rates of take-up tend to reduce when unemployment is high, as reported in Germany. Decisions by prospective parents regarding whether to take leave and for how long will necessarily reflect their desire to take time off, their reliance on job protection if they do take time off; and the rate of pay they will receive while on leave - for some couples, the payment is provided it may be unacceptably low, or they may be above an income threshold. One solution to the predicament of an unacceptably low income is to combine paid parental leave with part-time work. Section 3 explores this possibility.

Extent of Unpaid Leave

No countries offered unpaid statutory maternity leave, although some proportions of leave were reported to be unpaid for example, in the United Kingdom. Where there is an entitlement, maternity leave was paid for many mothers according to eligibility criteria, in all of the countries reviewed.

Countries where paternity leave is available but unpaid were Canada and Norway.

Countries where parental leave is available but unpaid were Australia, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.

A number of countries provide an entitlement of additional unpaid leave to care for children, beyond expiry of maternity, paternity and parental leaves for those who are eligible. Such leave is usually called 'childcare leave', 'career break' or some variation on those terms.

Those countries where a period of unpaid childcare leave is available under particular eligibility conditions following maternity or paternity leaves and paid parental leave (or instead of those leaves) include Estonia (two weeks per year until child is 14); Iceland (13 weeks per year per parent till 8), Norway (one year), and Portugal (two to three years) and Sweden (18 months for each parent). In a number of countries, unpaid leave is available as a career break to eligible employed parents i.e. Belgium, Greece, Iceland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden.

Extended, paid childcare leave (albeit at a low, flat-rate level) is available to eligible parents in Hungary (for parents with three plus children, until youngest child is 8), and in Finland (home-care leave is all parents, not just employed).

Appendix 1 summarises leave entitlements, identifying the countries where unpaid leave is available by statute (although payment may be available to employees via collective agreements). Appendix 5 contains further details regarding the availability of unpaid childcare leave and carers' leave. Moss advises that where parental leave is unpaid, there are no regular statistics on use, which is thought to be low by both mothers and fathers:

"[F]ew parents take leave schemes that are completely unpaid. Where leave is a family entitlement, fathers' use is low (i.e. where leave can be shared between parents, fathers take only a small proportion). However, where parental leave has both an individual entitlement and is relatively well paid, fathers' use is higher" (Moss and O'Brien 2006:7).

The separate issue of entitlements to carers' leave are discussed in section 4 below.

[2] Canada is a federal country. The government of Quebec is now responsible for the provision of leave in Quebec, but the federal government of Canada still determines leave provisions in other parts of the country.

[3] Note that the EU member states are obliged to meet the standards set by the EU Parental Leave Directive of 1996, as well as the earlier 1992 Directive concerning the safety and health of pregnant workers, and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding.

[4] In the information available, few countries have indicated the basis on which the level of earnings is determined. It is reasonable to presume that most use an average over a period of time such as the most recent six months or a year. Some riles are less rigid i.e. for determining eligibility for Maternity Allowance, the UK now uses the amount earned in any 13 weeks during the previous 66 weeks.