Child Leave and Leave for a Parent of a Disabled Child
All parents are entitled to 10 working days of paid parental leave for each child under the age of 14 for the period. In addition to the days of child leave, parents of disabled children can use one working day of parental leave per month for each disabled child until the child turns 18. The purpose of child leave and leave for a parent of a disabled child is to give parents more flexibility and opportunities to use the vacation days independently of each other and spend more time with the family. In addition, it is possible to receive unpaid child leave.
Child leave
Child leave is granted to both working parents separately and considers each child. Each parent has a total of 10 days of child leave for each child aged 14 years and younger (a total of 20 days for both parents). The more children under the age of 14 in the family, the more days of parental leave are provided for the parent. In the year the child turns 14, child leave can be used until the end of the calendar year.
Parents, foster parents and guardians who work with an employment contract or in public services have the right to use parental leave. Other forms of employment are not taken into account.
What is the amount of parental leave and how can I apply for it?
The child leave fee is calculated based on the income which has been deducted for social tax for the 12 months preceding three calendar months from the date of the leave. This means that three months will be counted back from the use of leave, and the preceding 12 months will be considered as the calculation period. The income received during this period is added together and divided by 12 to get the monthly rate, based on which the daily fee is calculated. The received income, or the monthly rate, is divided by 30, and 50% is then deducted from the amount to calculate the total of the daily child leave fee.
If the received amount is less than the working day’s pay calculated from the minimum wage, then the amount of the child leave payment is the amount calculated from the minimum wage, i.e. 42,36 euros in 2026.
If the amount received is greater than the daily wage calculated from the maximum rate of the parental benefit, then the amount of child leave payment will be the daily wage calculated from the maximum rate of the parental benefit. In 2026, the maximum child leave payment is 63,44 euros (3806,10 / 30 calendar days / 2).
You can apply for child leave in the self-service section of the Social Insurance Board, where you can see the number of leave days that you can plan, up to two months in advance.You can use up to 30 days of child leave in one year.
The child leave cannot be planned in retrospect – the earliest day that the leave can be used is the day it is planned – that is, you can start the child leave on the same day that you plan the vacation if the employer does not refuse to grant the vacation.
Child leave for a parent of a disabled child
In addition to the days of child leave, parents of disabled children can use one working day of parental leave per month for each child with a disability. The parental leave days for parents of a disabled child can be used until the end of the calendar year when the child turns 18. In one calendar year, both parents have a maximum of 12 working days for each disabled child. In the year when a disabled child turns 18, parental leave is granted regardless of whether the child’s birthday is before or after the disabled child’s parent’s child leave.
Parents, foster parents and guardians who work with an employment contract or in the public service have the right to use parental leave for a disabled child. Other forms of employment are not taken into account.
What is the amount of child leave payment for a parent with a disabled child and how do I apply for it?
Child leave pay for a parent of a disabled child is calculated based on the income taxed with the average social tax, for the 12 months preceding three calendar months from the day of the leave. This means that three months will be counted back from the leave, and the preceding 12 months will be considered as the calculation period. The income received during this period is added together and divided by 12 to get the monthly rate, based on which the daily fee is calculated. The received income, or the monthly rate, is divided by the average number of working days per month (in 2026, it will be 21) and the received amount is the parental leave fee of the disabled child.
If the amount received is less than the working day’s pay calculated from the minimum wage, then the amount of the payment is calculated from the minimum wage, i.e. 42,36 euros in 2026.
If the amount received is greater than the daily wage calculated from the maximum rate of the parental benefit, then the amount of the child leave payment is the daily wage calculated from the maximum rate of the parental benefit. In 2026, the maximum parental leave fee for a disabled child is 181,24 euros.
You can apply for child leave for a disabled child in the self-service section of the Social Insurance Board, where you can see the number of days of leave that you can use and plan as you wish.
Unpaid child leave
A working father and mother who are raising a child of up to 14 years old, or a disabled child of up to 18 years old, have the right to additionally use up to 10 working days of unpaid child leave per year. To obtain unpaid child leave, contact your employer.
Care allowance
A care allowance is a temporary incapacity benefit paid by the Health Insurance Fund to an insured person based on a care certificate for up to 10 consecutive days a year. This can be an employee, a servant, a person receiving work or service fees based on a contract under the law of obligations, a member of the management or control body of a legal entity, a self-employed person, or a spouse participating in the activities of a self-employed company, who loses income taxable by social tax due to caring for a sick child or family member.
A care allowance can be received when:
- caring for a child under the age of 12, or a disabled person under the age of 19, for up to 14 consecutive days;
- caring for a child under the age of 12 for up to 60 consecutive days, if the cause of the illness is a malignant tumour and the child’s treatment begins in a hospital;
- caring for a sick family member at home for up to seven consecutive days;
- caring for a child under 3 years of age or a disabled child under 16 years of age, if the child’s caregiver is sick or is under obstetric care.
You can find the benefit rates here.