Five months’ leave for new Swedish fathers

SWEDISH fathers have been told to take five months off work after a government investigation suggested increasing the country’s parental allowance to encourage the fairer sharing of leave between men and women.

Sweden currently offers 480 days of subsidised leave per child, which parents can share as they wish, with 390 paid for by the taxpayer at a rate of about 80 per cent of their salary. At least three months of that leave is allocated to each parent on a “use it or lose it” basis.

A government report recommended boosting that allowance to five months, to increase gender equality in time off for childcare.

Sweden has some of the most generous parental policies in Europe and in 1971 was the first country in the world to allow split leave.

Lars Arrhenius, who wrote the Swedish report, said the “take it or leave it” days were the most influential ones to target because parents won’t want to miss out on the subsidised days.

“The proposal is expected to have a strong effect on the distribution of parental leave,” he said.

The report called for people living together, where one adult is not the child’s parent, to be treated the same as a father or mother for the purposes of leave. They would not need to be married to the child’s parent.

Mr Arrhenius also put forward plans to make it easier for a person who is not a parent or guardian, such as a grandparent, to have a share of up to 30 days of the leave.

Sweden’s minority government, a coalition of Social Democrats and Greens, faces a struggle to implement the reforms due to opposition objections.