NDR 2024: Parents of newborns to get extra 10 weeks of shared leave; total paid leave to increase to 7.5 months

SINGAPORE: Parents will get an additional 10 weeks of shared leave to care for their infants when a new scheme is fully implemented on Apr 1, 2026, announced Prime Minister Lawrence Wong during his National Day Rally speech on Sunday (Aug 18). 
This will replace the current shared parental leave scheme, which allows working mothers to share up to four weeks of their 16 weeks of government-paid maternity leave with their husbands. 
The new scheme will be rolled out in two phases – starting from Apr 1 next year –  to give employers time to adjust their operational and manpower arrangements.
Mr Wong also announced that new fathers will get four weeks of government-paid paternity leave, up from the current two weeks’ mandatory leave. 
These changes, which are part of the government’s efforts to provide stronger caregiving support for parents, will bring the total paid leave to 30 weeks or about 7.5 months, up from the current 20 weeks. 
Mr Wong said the government had looked at countries where parents enjoy more generous parental leave – some stretching to a year or more. 
“They adopt a different approach. They provide long durations of leave, but part of it is provided at reduced pay, or even unpaid. Employees also have to be open to taking on a different role when they return to work a year later,” he said. 
“In Singapore our leave provisions are shorter. But most of it is fully paid. And in most cases, you can return to the same job when you come back to work.
“Because we have a different system, it is hard to make a direct comparison with other countries. But having studied the matter carefully, I think we can further enhance our leave schemes,” he added. 
The new scheme comprises 10 weeks of paid parental leave shared between both parents. This will be paid by the government, up to the prevailing cap of S$2,500 (US$1,900) a week, said the National Population and Talent Division (NPTD) on Sunday.
Parents of Singaporean babies will be eligible for the new shared parental leave scheme, including unwed mothers.  For fathers, only those who are legally married will be eligible
The scheme will be implemented in two phases: 
By default, the 10 weeks of shared parental leave will be equally distributed between both parents. This means three weeks for each parent for babies born between Apr 1, 2025, and Mar 31, 2026, and five weeks for each parent for babies born from Apr 1, 2026. 
However, parents can reallocate their leave based on their caregiving needs, NPTD said in its media release. This would mean, for example, that one parent can take all 10 weeks.
Changes to the leave-sharing arrangements should be made within four weeks after the child’s birth. Any changes after that will be subject to employers’ agreement. 
The shared parental leave should also be taken within the first 12 months of the child’s birth. 
If parents and their employers cannot agree on the leave arrangements, parents can take the shared paid leave in a continuous block – after they use up their government-paid maternity and paternity leave – within the first 26 weeks of the child’s birth. 
The current scheme, which allows working mothers to share up to four weeks of their maternity leave with their husbands, has had a low take-up rate. Only 6 per cent of eligible working fathers have taken such leave, the NPTD said.
Currently, fathers are entitled to two weeks of government-paid paternity leave and can take an additional two weeks only if their employers allow them to do so. Employers who grant the additional two weeks are reimbursed by the government. 
However, from Apr 1 next year, the two weeks of voluntary government-paid paternity leave will be made mandatory, bringing the total to four weeks.
“We encourage fathers to fully utilise their paternity leave to care for their newborn and to support their wives,” said NPTD. 
According to a report published last month by the Ministry of Social and Family Development, the proportion of fathers who took government-paid paternity leave increased from 47 per cent for children born in 2016, to 53 per cent for children born in 2021. 
A new scheme called the Shared Parental Leave Benefit will also help working parents with irregular employment arrangements such as short-term contract workers. Eligible parents will be able to claim reimbursement from the government for time taken off work to care for their infants. 
Parents eligible for the scheme will similarly have the flexibility to share the six-week entitlement with their spouses from Apr 1, 2025, or 10-week entitlement from Apr 1, 2026. 
NPTD said details of the reimbursement process will be released closer to the implementation date. 
To utilise any of the parental leave schemes, new parents must inform their employers at least four weeks in advance.
This applies to government-paid maternity and paternity leave, the new shared parental leave as well as adoption leave. 
“Parents should exercise responsibility and inform their employers as early as possible when they are expecting a child. This will provide employers with the lead time to make the necessary covering arrangements and operational adjustments,” said the NPTD.