Interruption in online service for recruitment 21 May 01:00–08:00 More information
An incident has occured in Kela’s email service. More information
Maintenance break in e-services on 21 May at 6–20 More information
Maintenance break in the appointment booking system on 21 May at 6–20 More information
A technical problem has been discovered in the Kela’s remote services More information
Family leave reform 2022
The upcoming family leave reform will also affect the benefits available from Kela. The reform enters into force in 1st August, 2022. First applications for the new type of parental allowances introduced in the family leave reform will go live on 1 May 2022.
The reform seeks to recognise equally all kinds of situations, including those involving diverse families and various forms of entrepreneurship and self-employment.
The goals of the reform are:
- to allocate family leave entitlements and care responsibilities equally between the parents
- to strengthen non-discrimination and equality in working life
- to reduce the gender wage gap.
The new family leave model will provide families much more opportunity, flexibility and freedom of choice than the current system in terms of their family leave decisions.
Possibility to share the parental allowance entitlement equally between the parents
Parents have a total parental allowance entitlement of 320 working days. If a child has two parents, the days are divided equally between the parents, i.e. they will both be entitled to 160 working days. The pregnant parent is entitled to an additional 40 days of pregnancy allowance before the payment of the parental allowance is set to begin. Parents can agree to give up as many as 63 days of their entitlement to the other parent or some other person who provides care for the child.
Preparations of the reform
During 2021, work preparing the family leave reform proceeded as follows:
- In February, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health circulated the Government’s draft proposal among the key parties, whose comments were given by the beginning of April.
- After that, the Ministry put out a summary of the received comments.
- The Government decided on the final proposal and submited it to Parliament in the autumn.
- Parliament passed the laws 8th December, 2021.
The reform enters into force in 1st August, 2022. Read more on the new parental allowances.
Read more
- Parental allowances when the estimated due date of the baby is on or after 4 September 2022
- Ministry of Social Affairs and Health: Family leave reform
- Frequently asked questions (stm.fi)
- 16.2.2021 Ministry of Social Affairs: Draft government proposal for family leave reform completed
- 16.2.2021 family leave reform, press conference on family leave
- Information on family leaves
- 18.5.2021 press release: Progress on proposed family leave reform – comments received will guide further deliberations