On Thursday, 3 April, at an extraordinary sitting, the Saeima accepted in the final reading the urgent amendment to the Maternity and Sickness Insurance Law submitted by a group of MPs, introducing the conditions for granting parental benefit during the coronavirus-related state of emergency.

The amendment enables parents to claim the continuation of the granted parental benefit after the child reaches the age of one year or 1.5 years if the benefit ends during the emergency situation and the parent does not have an opportunity to find a job or engage in economic activity.

Such welfare payouts may continue for the period from 12 March 2020 until the moment when the person starts earning income as an employee or self-employed, but only until the end of the state of emergency. The benefit will amount to the previously granted benefit, but will not exceed 700 euros per month. Parental welfare payouts will cease when the person is granted a downtime benefit or starts earning income from economic activity.

The changes are necessary because parents whose children turn one or one and a half during this time would have to return to work, but this may not be possible due to the downtime in several sectors or other considerations, according to the authors of the amendment.

The authors of the amendment emphasise that the risk of spreading the virus is minimised thanks to the opportunity for families with young children to stay at home and not go to work, as well as not to take children to daycare in the current situation; they also point out the reduced chance of families with children falling below the poverty line or being qualified as poor.

The amendment to the Maternity and Sickness Insurance Law will enter into force on the day following its promulgation.

Saeima Press Service