Employment Analysis of Maternity and Paternity Benefits 2019 - 2022

Parent’s benefit was introduced in 2019, initially for 2 weeks per parent, which could be taken at any time in the child’s first year.

It was extended in April 21 up to 5 weeks per parent within the child’s first 2 years. This applied to any child born or adopted after 01/11/19.

It was further extended to 7 weeks per parent in July 22 for any child born from 01/07/22 onwards.

Each parent is entitled to take the full period of leave and it is non-transferable between them.

When the scheme was introduced in 2019 all claims were made by recipients of paternity benefit. From 2020 onwards recipients of maternity benefit were more likely to claim parent’s benefit, reaching around 74% of parent’s benefit claims in 2021.

Leave does not need to be taken in one contiguous block, it may be taken a week at a time and spread over the child’s first 2 years.

In 2021, 75% of parent’s leave was taken all in one contiguous block and around 90% was taken within 2 blocks.

The profile for 2022 is expected to change as more claims are made during 2023 during the child’s second year.

63% of maternity claims starting in 2020 had a subsequent claim for parent’s benefit.

At the time of writing 65% of maternity claims starting in 2021 had a subsequent claim for parent’s benefit, but this is expected to rise as more claims are made in 2023 during the child’s second year.

39.4% of paternity claims starting in 2020 had a subsequent claim for parent’s benefit. 36.9% of paternity claims starting in 2021 had a subsequent claim for parent’s benefit and this figure is expected to rise as more claims are made during 2023.

Parent’s Benefit Recipients by Sector

In 2022 the highest parent’s benefit recipient rates were in Education (6.9 per 100), Human Health & Social Work Activities (6.2 per 100), and Public Administration & Defence (6.1 per 100). The lowest rates were in Accommodation & Food Service Activities (1.7), Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing (1.7) and Transportation & Storage (4.3).

As with maternity and paternity benefits, a target population of employees aged 15 to 44 was used in calculating the proportion of benefit recipients per 100 employees. In the case of parent’s benefit though the combined female and male population was used.

Interval between maternity and parent’s leave

For maternity benefit recipients that also claim parent’s benefit, around 22% took their parent’s leave within 1 week of maternity ending. This was the case for those starting maternity in 2019 and 2020. For those that started maternity leave in 2021 that claimed both benefits it seems that a higher proportion, 27%, had taken parent’s leave within 1 week, but this profile is expected to flatten as more claims are made in 2023 during the child’s second year.

With each passing week an additional 2% or so take up parent’s leave. There was a significant spike at 16 weeks where this jumped to around 14%.

At the end of their 26 weeks of maternity benefit recipients can take a further 16 weeks of unpaid leave. This period is not covered by maternity benefit, but social insurance contributions are credited for it. This unpaid leave must be taken immediately after maternity leave.

The spike seen for the take up of parent’s benefit after 16 weeks provides some indication of the number of maternity benefit recipients that take unpaid leave.