Applications for parental leave and child raising allowance, simplified
Romanian Government simplifies procedure for granting parental leave
Leyla Cheamil, 23.06.2016, 13:29
The Bucharest Government has taken some measures regarding people who plan to become or have recently become parents. The Government has simplified the procedure for granting parental leave and the child raising allowance. The new regulations recently endorsed by Parliament will be enforced as of July 1st. For about 140 thousand parents, the child raising allowance will be recalculated automatically without additional documents being needed on their part. Also, people who initially opted for just a 1-year parental leave can now extend this period by another year.
Labour Minister Dragos Paslaru: “We now have one form that can be filled in for both the child raising allowance and the child subsidy, and, if that’s the case, for the extension of the parental leave. We also have several ways of supplying the required documents to the authorities: by going to the office of the National Agency for Social Inspection and Payments, by post and by email, at the addresses that will soon be announced.”
The Labor Ministry will also draw up a guide aimed at helping parents who want to apply for the child raising allowance. The document will be posted on the labor Ministry’s website and on the Internet pages of the National Agency for Social Inspection and Payments and of the relevant county institutions. According to Labor Ministry estimates, implementing the new regulations will require an additional amount of 50 million euros from the state budget. Also, around 78 thousand people who are currently getting the minimum monthly child raising allowance, will see it increased from 139 euros to 230 euros.
According to Labor Ministry data, the number of parents receiving a child raising allowance went down by 0.9% in the first nine months of last year, following a drop in the birth rate. After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, the number of newborn babies has dropped constantly, with Romania ranking among the last countries in the world in terms of birth rate. If 25 years ago over 30 thousand children were born every year, the number went down by half in the last few years, according to the National Statistics Institute. Sociologists say that the reason for this is the advanced age at which Romanians choose to get married and the fact that having a child is not a priority anymore.
(Translated by Elena Enache)
