The parental allowance, paid during parental leave, is state support for parents caring for their youngest children. What are the conditions of this benefit this year and what changes are planned for the future? This is the focus of our article.
The parental allowance, paid during parental leave, is state support for parents caring for their youngest children. What are the conditions of this benefit this year and what changes are planned for the future? This is the focus of our article.
Parental allowance is a state social welfare benefit. Unlike this, maternity pay falls under the health care system.
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The application for parental allowance, or the allowance that accompanies it, is submitted to the relevant Social Support Department under the Labour Office. You can apply for it as early as three months before the end of your maternity leave, and if you don’t make it in time, you won’t lose the allowance. You can also apply for it retrospectively. If you receive maternity pay, you should also bring a certificate from the Social Security Administration that pays it.
You can also apply online, just use a data box or an electronic signature. The most convenient way is to file through the Jenda client area, where you fill in the necessary information and submit your application electronically. Here you can also edit the amount and see how much money has already been paid out.
However, only the parent with full-time care of the child is eligible. This is somewhat compatible with a child attending a nursery or kindergarten until the age of two, but the time spent in these facilities is legally limited to 92 hours per month. If a parent provides a nanny or a babysitter, the condition for entitlement to parental allowance is considered to be maintained. From the age of two, whether the child attends a nursery or kindergarten is no longer monitored.
Maternity and parental leave are two completely different institutes. They differ in everything – in the legislation on which they are based, in the length of the period, in the amount of the allowance and, to some extent, in the range of persons entitled to it. We have discussed everything relating to maternity leave in our separate article.
The allowance is designed by the state as a certain amount of money (currently CZK 350 000 for one child), which a parent can gradually draw over several years. A higher amount of parental allowance is available for twins and multiples, up to a maximum of CZK 525 000. It is up to the parent to decide whether to stay at home with the child for 2, 3 or 4 years. In practice, most parents opt for a shorter duration in order to increase the family’s monthly income.
The amount of the monthly allowance usually corresponds to the length of parental leave chosen. Thus, you will receive significantly more money for the two-year form than for the three-year form. However, it is also influenced to some extent by the amount of the parent’s income before taking parental leave. The maximum amount of parental allowance is calculated on the basis of the amount of maternity allowance received, which is set at 70% of the daily assessment base. This, in turn, is based on the amount of income from which social security and health insurance were paid before the start of maternity leave.
Parents can change the amount of their parental allowance every three months. In general, parents can withdraw the entire parental allowance no earlier than seven months after the birth of the child (subject to a maximum monthly allowance of 70% of 30 times the daily assessment base at birth.
However, as we have indicated above, if a woman received a maternity allowance of less than CZK 13,000 per month before taking parental leave, or if she was not entitled to it at all, the monthly allowance is capped at CZK 13,000.
Example: Mrs Lucie and Mrs Zdena have the same average gross salary of CZK 42 500, Mrs Lucie decides to receive parental allowance for three years, so the monthly amount of parental allowance will be CZK 8 333. However, Ms Zdena wants to receive parental allowance for only two years, the monthly amount of which will be CZK 12 500.
In practice, it may happen that the recipient of parental allowance will exhaust the entire benefit before the end of the parental leave he or she originally decided to take. This happens in particular if he or she has taken an increased monthly amount. If he chooses to stay on parental leave after the benefit has been exhausted, the state will still pay for his health insurance, because parental leave is still ongoing and can continue until the child is three years old. His employer should hold his job during this period.
There is no limit on the amount of earnings during parental allowance, and the income earned does not affect the monthly amount of parental allowance. It is not necessary to give notice to quit your job and return to it after the parental leave. It is also possible to work for your original employer.
You can read more about how working on maternity and parental leave works in the next article.
The situation of families receiving parental allowance who have had an additional child during this period has changed for the better since 2021. Until then, the remainder of the parental allowance that parents had not been able to use because of the birth of another child was forfeited.
Now the Labour Office will pay the remaining amount at once. However, one important condition must be fulfilled: at least one of the parents can be assessed for 70 per cent of thirty times the daily assessment base at the time of the birth of the second child. This condition is met by the second parent if he or she is duly employed or self-employed and pays the insurance premiums in advance.
Parental leave is an important period of time that serves to deepen the care of the child. The employee is entitled to take it until the child is 3 years old. We’ve written up all the essentials about parental leave in our separate article.
In recent years, the state has been helpful to new parents in a number of ways: whether it is the choice of the length of parental leave and, in relation to this, the amount of the allowance or the possibility of topping up unused parental leave for the first child in a situation where a second child is born. Last year, the parental allowance was also increased from CZK 300 000 to CZK 350 000. The amount of the allowance is not linked to the average wage or any other economic indicator and there is no automatic indexation, such as pensions. Although in 2011 the parental allowance accounted for about two thirds of the normal pension, today the ratio is about half of the normal pension. Comparing the income of pensioners and parents of young children is appropriate because these are typically the groups most affected by poverty.
The year 2025 and, more specifically, the amendment to the Labour Code will bring further changes for parents. One of the main changes is the extension of the employer’s obligation to hold a job for a person on parental leave until the child is two years old. Parents who would prefer to work instead of taking long parental leave will appreciate the new possibility of flexible working hours. If you and your employer agree to do so, you can set your working hours to fit in with nursery opening times, for example.
In addition to the aforementioned maternity and parental pay, other financial support parents can get from the state includes:
These benefits depend on your income and you apply for them at the Job Centre.
Our next article will tell you more about these and other state social support benefits.
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