Parental leave on the rise with increased allowances

The increase of the allowance from 30% to 80% of salary for parental leave (valid for three of the nine months compensated), gradually introduced from 2023 onwards, has increased the number of beneficiaries: in 2024 (latest data published by Inps), 413,695 workers took it, more than 100,000 more than in 2021. The increase has been constant since 2022. If we compare 2024 with 2023, the growth in beneficiaries was 29% for fathers and 9% for mothers. The latter continue to represent the largest cohort of beneficiaries: the optional leave from work that can be taken after maternity or paternity leave has traditionally been taken by women, who use it mainly during the first year of their child's age. In 2024, working mothers accounted for 70 per cent of beneficiaries (289,409). Fathers, however, are increasing: whereas in 2020 they were 22 per cent of the beneficiaries, in 2024 they increased to 30 per cent (124,286). In the first year of a child's life, mothers take an average of 126 days of leave, compared to 36 days for fathers.

That the loss of a large part of the salary is an obstacle to taking parental leave is also shown by the data in the Inps 2025 Report: mothers who do not take parental leave have an average annual salary of EUR 12,016. It is easier to take parental leave the higher the salary and the more stable the employment relationship. In fact, 79% of female workers who do not take parental leave have a fixed-term employment contract. The legislative changes introduced in recent years, with the raising of the leave allowance from 30% to 80% of salary for three months during the first six years of the child's age, could represent a step towards greater equity in the use of this measure.

The Budget Law 2026 (Law 199/2025, Article 1, paragraphs 219 and 220) did not intervene on the economic weight of the allowance but on the time window in which working parents can access parental leave. The 10 months of leave available to both working parents (which can be increased to 11 if the father abstains from work for a continuous or fractioned period of at least three months) will be usable up to the child's 14th birthday (instead of up to 12 years, as up to now). Working parents with severely disabled children will also be able to extend their parental leave (alternatively) up to three years, usable continuously or in instalments, up to the child's 14th birthday.

Another novelty making its debut this year concerns sick leave for children. The maximum age of the child for which sick leave can be taken increases from eight to 14. In addition, the maximum number of days of sick leave for each parent's child (alternatively and without pay) increases from five to ten working days per year, for each child between three and 14 years of age. On the other hand, the rules on sick leave for children under three years of age do not change: both parents, alternately, have the right to abstain from work for the entire duration of the illness.

The ultimate goal of extending leave of absence is always that of a greater boost to the birth rate (as Council President Giorgia Meloni said last Friday), through a better reconciliation of parents' private and working lives. The number of new births is constantly decreasing: in 2024 there were 369,944, almost 10,000 fewer than the previous year. Between January and July 2025, there were 13,000 fewer births than in the same period in 2024 (-6.3%).