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Already known for their progressive parental leave policies, Sweden has introduced another supportive law that allows grandparents to get paid for looking after their grandchildren.
As part of Sweden’s expansion of their paid parental leave laws, the new policy allows parents to transfer their leave entitlements to someone who isn’t their child’s legal guardian—such as a grandparent.
However, the recipient can also be another family member, friend or neighbour.
Sweden has been already offering paid parental leave to parents of any gender since 1974 and the country’s current entitlements give new parents a total of 480 days (or 68 weeks) of paid parental leave, which can be shared between the parents. In comparison, Australian parents can currently access up to 22 weeks of paid parental leave—however this number is rising (read about this here).
Now, parents of children up to 15 months can transfer up to 45 days of parental leave to a different primary carer while single parents can transfer up to 90 days. The policy comes with a rule that the recipient of transferred parental leave must not be working or studying during this time.
Considering how many grandparents already take care of their grandchildren for free—and the multigenerational benefits that gives both grandparents and grandchildren—the policy is both an obvious solution and a revolutionary one.
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