Grandparents in Sweden can now receive paid parental leave to care for their grandchildren for up to three months of a child’s first year.
The world-first new law was introduced this week, seven months after the Swedish parliament approved the government’s proposal on a parent’s right to transfer their parental allowance to someone else.
Under the new law, parents will be allowed to transfer some of their paid parental leave to another carer – including their child’s grandparents. According to the Social Insurance Agency, a couple may transfer a maximum of 45 days to other carers, while single parents can transfer 90 days.
The new laws also doubled the number of days both parents can take leave simultaneously— from thirty days per year to sixty days.
Alexandra Wallin from Social Insurance Agency said the new law will “give greater opportunities” to parents.
Wallin told Swedish broadcaster SVT that the rules maintain that grandparents and other non-parent caregivers will need to be insured for parental allowance before receiving the benefit.
A retired non-parent caregiver can also take parental leave, though anyone looking for work or study are ineligible to receive the parental allowance.
Sweden became the first country to introduce paid parental leave for fathers in 1974, replacing gender-specific maternity leave with parental leave for both parents.
The revolutionary parental insurance permitted parents to take six months off work per child — with each parent entitled to half of the days.
According to the Social Insurance Agency, only 0.5 per cent of the paid parental leave was taken by fathers at that time; however today, fathers in Sweden take roughly 30 per cent of the paid parental leave.
According to OECD data, fathers in Sweden take the highest proportion of state-subsidised parental leave among all EU countries. Another study by the Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate published last year found that only 18 per cent of fathers who had children born in 2017 hadn’t accessed their parental leave allowance.
Sweden has historically outperformed most countries in the world when it comes to gender equality. In 2022, it ranked first in the EU on the Gender Equality Index, and since the Index’s inception in 2006, it has never ranked below fifth.
Parents receive a paid parental benefit for 480 days, or approximately 16 months per child, and receive a full day off work when their child is born.
Of those 480 days, the compensation for 390 days is calculated based on a person’s full income. For the remaining 90 days, people receive a fixed amount of 180 kronor ($AUD25) per day.
The terms of parental benefit also apply to parents who are adopting. Parents who adopt two or more children at the same time receive an additional 180 days per child.