The Swedish parental allowance – the so called föräldrapenning is a generous one. It is paid out for  480 day (approximately 16 months) for each child. Parents are – because of gender equality aspects – encouraged to share the leave and allowance. That is why 90 days out of the total 480 days are reserved for each parent. Only single custody parents are entitled to take out the 480 days on their own.

Can I receive parental allowance?

The general requirements to receive parental allowance are:

• if you are the parent of the child or have custody of the child,
• if you are married or cohabiting with the child’s parents,
  if you are at home with your child instead of working, studying or looking for work,
  if you are insured in Sweden, which you usually are if you live or work here,
  if the child is resident in Sweden or lives within the EU/EEA or Switzerland.

Parents generally get 80% of their salary if they have been working legally in Sweden for at least 240 days and paid taxes. This amount counts for the first 390 days. A reduced amount of 180 SEK is then paid out for the remaining 90 days.

Note: you are generally entitled to parental leave even if you don’t meet the requirements (of legal work in Sweden for at least 240 days). In this case you get a reduced leave of 250 SEK/day for a period of 480 days (data from 2019).

What is parental leave?

So, parental allowance is the money you may be entitled to when you are home with your child. But what is parental leave? Well, parental leave is simply put the right for parents or legal guardians to take time of work to be at home with your child.

The Swedish Social Insurance Agency explains it like this:

Employees who have children under the age of 8 have the right to be off work, with or without parental allowance from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency. The employee has the right to:

• take consecutive leave,
• shorten their working hours by up to a quarter of normal working hours,
• divide the leave into a maximum of three periods each calendar year

What is SGI?

Something that you will sooner or later become aquainted with is the term SGI – Sjukdomsgrundande inkomst. Losely translated, it stands for Sickness based income. SGI is a sum calculated by Försäkringskassan that is based on your income and that is the foundation of how much money you can get if you are for instance sick, on parental leave or home with a sick child.

Since January 2019, the second parent can take general parental leave from the sixtieth day before estimated delivery, to join his/her partner to prenatal visits at Mödravårdscentralen (MVC). Parental leave can also be used for school and preschool introduction (inskolning).

Simply put, your SGI is the same amount as your monthly salary x 12. BUT, there is an upper limit for an SGI. Basically, if your salary is higher than the upper limit, you will not get 80% or your salary when you, for instance go on parental leave, but will instead recieve 80% of your SGI. In 2019 the upper limit of the SGI was 455 000 SEK which you will then receive 80% of.

Parental leave if your child is born outside of Sweden

From the 1 of July 2017, children born outside of Sweden, will no longer have full parental leave rights.

• children residing in Sweden from their one-year birthday have the right to maximum 200 days of parental leave.
• children residing in Sweden from their two-year birthday have the right to maximum 100 days of parental leave.
• this also applies to children who became residents in Sweden after July 2010 and that were at the time older than one year and where the parents have not taken out parental leave before July 1 2017.
• this does NOT apply to children who are adopted or will be adopted.