The Minister of Solidarity announces the arrival of “family leave” from 2025, “much better paid” than the current system

The Minister of Solidarity Aurore Bergé announced, Wednesday November 8, the creation in 2025 of a “new law” for families so that young parents can stop working to look after their baby, while being better compensated.

“From 2025, we will create a new right for families”, wrote the minister in an interview published on the website of the Express. “After maternity leave and paternity leave, parents will each be entitled to family leave, which they can take at the same time or one after the other, full-time or part-time,” she detailed.

Ongoing consultation

This “family leave” will be “much better paid” than current parental leave, compensated to the tune of 429 euros per month. The new leave could, however “coexist” with the old one. Aurore Bergé is currently leading consultations with trade unions and employers’ organizations with a view to reforming parental leave.

In July, shortly after entering the government, the Minister of Solidarity called for “to reflect on” has “shorter but better compensated parental leave to give families a real choice”, attracting a series of criticisms regarding its possible shortening.

Created in 1977 and reformed several times since, parental leave allows parents to suspend their professional activity until the child is three years old. It was notably reformed under the Hollande presidency in 2014: the compensation was reduced and the duration was reduced to two years if it is taken by only one parent. The third year could only be taken by the other parent. The goal was for 25% of fathers to take it. However, the appeal rate of fathers has hardly increased with this reform.