The President Signed a Bill Increasing Parental Leave Benefits and Making Changes to the “Super Dávka”

The higher parental allowance will apply to children born on or after January 1, 2027, as well as to children taken into permanent care that replaces parental care on or after that date. For twins and multiple births, the amount will be doubled, to 800,000 korunas. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs justifies the increase as an effort to mitigate the effects of inflation on families with young children and improve their financial situation. However, part of the opposition failed to push through a provision for the allowance to be automatically adjusted for inflation or for the increase to apply to the unused portion of parental leave for families with children born in previous years. In an accompanying resolution, the Senate called on the government to further consider the introduction of indexation.

The amendment also changes the rules for the “super-benefit,” which replaced the housingallowance and supplement, the cost-of-living allowance, and child allowances. Starting in October, housing assistance will be calculated based on household costs in individual districts, rather than on the size of the municipality. According to the ministry, the goal is to more accurately reflect the actual differences in rent across regions. Single parents with children under 15 will now be classified as vulnerable groups, whereas the age limit had previously been set at seven years. The opposition failed to push through amendments to the bill, such as changes to the per-child allowance for the poorest households, adjustments to the income credit for self-employed individuals, or the calculation of benefits based on income after insolvency deductions. According to the explanatory memorandum, the changes to the “super-benefit” will require up to three billion crowns in additional funding.