The parental allowance, received during parental leave, is a support from the state 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 concerning 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. For twins and multiples, the amount is CZK 525 000.
It is up to the parent to decide whether to stay at home with the child for 2 or 3 years – the maximum duration of the parental allowance is reduced to 3 years from 2025.
The amount of the monthly allowance generally corresponds to the length of parental leave chosen. This means 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, which is 70% of the daily assessment base.
Parents have the possibility to change the amount of their parental allowance every three months. As a general rule, parents can withdraw the entire parental allowance no earlier than seven months after the birth of the child.
If a woman received less than CZK 13 000 per month before taking up parental maternity leave, or if she was not entitled to it at all, the monthly allowance is capped at CZK 15 000 from 1 July 2025 (previously 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 his or her parental leave ends. This happens in particular if he or she has collected an increased monthly amount. If he or she decides to stay on parental leave after the benefit has been exhausted, the state still pays for the health insurance because parental leave lasts until the child is three years old.
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.
There is no limit on the amount of earnings during the period of parental allowance and the income does not affect the monthly amount of the allowance.
However,as of 1 June 2025, the flexicurity amendment to the Labour Code has brought a significant change: parents can now also work for their original employer on a full-time or part-time basis, even in the same type of work they did before parental leave. Previously, this was not possible.
At the same time, it remains in force that the employer must allow the parent to return to work in accordance with the employment contract.
The return to the original position and workplace is guaranteed until the child reaches the age of 2; after this time, the law only provides for placement in a corresponding position.
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 addition to the aforementioned maternity and parental benefits, other financial support that parents can receive from the state includes:
childbirth allowance,
the unified benefit for families with children (replacing child benefit and housing benefit from October 2025).
These benefits are still income-related and the application is made to the Labour Office – including the possibility of electronic submission via the Jenda portal.
The parental allowance in 2025 is CZK 350,000 for one child and CZK 525,000 for multiple children, with the maximum period of the allowance newly reduced to three years. Parents can change the monthly amount every three months and from July 2025 the minimum monthly limit of CZK 15,000 applies. A parent who cares for the child all day is eligible, and work or extra work is not restricted – from June 2025, it is now possible to work for the original employer on a full-time or part-time basis, even in the same profession. The flexinove of the Labour Code also stipulated that the return to the original job is guaranteed until the child is two years old, after which the employee is only entitled to work corresponding to the contract. The unused parental allowance is paid in one lump sum upon the birth of another child. In addition, a reform of state social assistance benefits came into force in October 2025, which unifies child benefit and housing benefit into one benefit for families with children.
Our next article will tell you more about these and other state social support benefits.
You can apply for parental allowance at the labour office of your place of residence. The application can be submitted in person, by post or electronically via a data box or the Jenda portal. The form must be filled in with information about the child and the parent, and if the applicant has received maternity allowance, a certificate from the Social Security Agency must be attached. The allowance can also be claimed retrospectively, up to a maximum of three months.
The total amount of the parental allowance is CZK 350 000 for one child and CZK 525 000 for multiple children. The parent can choose the length of the drawdown, but for a maximum of three years. The monthly amount depends on the previous income and how quickly the parent wants to draw the amount. From July 2025, the minimum monthly payment is set at CZK 15 000.
If parents have another child before they have used up all the parental allowance for the first child, they do not lose the rest of the benefit. The Labour Office will reimburse the unused portion in one lump sum if at least one of the parents meets the calculation condition based on 70% of the daily assessment base.
No, from 2025, neither maternity nor parental leave can be extended to four years. The maximum duration of parental leave is three years. After this period, the parent can stay at home with the child, but without financial support from the state. However, the state continues to pay for the child’s health insurance until the child reaches the age of three.
Citizens of the Czech Republic and foreigners with permanent or long-term residence who actually live and care for the child in the Czech Republic are entitled to parental allowance. However, they must meet the condition that the child is also a permanent resident of the Czech Republic and the parent is legally and long-term resident. The benefit is applied for at the Labour Office according to the place of permanent residence.
Have you applied for sickness, maternity, parental allowance or other benefit and instead of the expected support, you received a rejection? Or were you awarded a benefit in a lower amount than is appropriate for your situation?
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