New Swedish law enables government funding for babysitting grandparents

Sweden was the first country to introduce paid parental leave also to fathers in 1974.

Today, fathers take around 30 per cent of the paid parental leave, according to the Swedish Social Insurance Agency.

Now, 50 years later, grandparents in Sweden can be paid to take care of their grandchildren. 

The Swedish government's parental leave reform implemented on 1 July allows for the transfer of paid parental leave days to relatives or friends.

Sweden’s social insurance agency, Försäkringskassan, says the new scheme should provide families with more flexibility.

New parental leave rules allow parents to transfer up to 45 days of their paid leave to someone who isn’t the child’s legal guardian as long as the person is insured for parental allowance, which most people in Sweden are. For single parents, up to 90 days can be transferred per child from the total 480 days of paid leave.

“The aim of the new law is to give more flexibility and greater opportunities to parents and to make it easier to combine family with work life. Furthermore, the new reform gives greater opportunities to, for example, single guardians and also makes parental leave available to a greater diversity of family types, which is likely to promote gender equality,” Stefan Forsberg, the Director of Operations of Parental Insurance at Försäkringskassan, told Euronews.

The new rule allows even retirees to take parental leave, for example, in which case the compensation is based on the person’s pension. The recipient of the parental allowance may not look for work or study during the time they receive the parental allowance.

Maria Karlsson, who lives in Stockholm with her three-year-old son, Liam, says she was glad to hear about the new law. Karlsson is a working,