Parental Leave To Increase To One Year

Parental leave will increase from nine months to a whole year, and payments will be much greater, if a proposal from the Ministry of Welfare passes.

As it currently stands, parental leave in Iceland is nine months long: three months for the mother, three months for the father, and an additional three months to be divided between the two however they want. Kjarninn reports that this could very well change.

The Ministry of Welfare would like to see parental leave increased to a whole year, with five months for each parent, and an additional two months to share between them.

Changes will not end there, either. The current maximum monthly pay-out for parental leave is 370,000 ISK. If the proposed changes go into effect, this will be increased to 600,000 ISK per month. In addition, the first 300,000 ISK will be delivered whole, with parents getting 80% of the payout beyond this point.

The Ministry would also like to work with all the municipalities in the country to ensure that, when parental leave concludes, every child has a guaranteed spot in a local playschool.

These changes will not, however, go into effect immediately. The aim is to begin putting these changes into effect by January 1, 2019, with complete implementation by 2021.