Election 2023: Labour’s offer for new parents is four weeks’ paid leave for partners on top of paid parental leave

Labour is pledging to give four weeks of paid parental leave to the partner of the main carer of a baby, on top of the 26 weeks paid parental leave for a main caregiver.

Prime Minister and Labour leader Chris Hipkins is announcing the new policy in Wellington today as part of his push to win Labour a third term, saying it will ease the financial burden for partners taking leave after the birth of a child to help the main carer.

It would be phased in – starting with two weeks leave for partners from July 1, 2024, increasing to three weeks from July 2025 and the full four weeks from July 2026. The leave could be taken concurrently with paid parental leave or consecutively, giving families the option of having both parents at home after the child’s birth or having at least one parent home on paid leave for up to 30 weeks.

It would also be available for working partners where the main carer was not eligible for paid parental leave.

It will be paid for entirely by government and has been costed at $35 million in the first year it is offered, rising to $70-$75m a year once the full four weeks is being paid. It would cost a total of $230m over the first four years.

Hipkins said taking time off work after the birth of a child was expensive, but many partners had to do it to support their partners. Giving paid leave to those partners would help at a critical time.

“This is absolutely the right thing to do – we know that when it comes to a baby’s first few weeks, you can’t overdo support, whether that’s an extra pair of hands, sleep or cooked meals.

“This policy extends the entitlement so all partners can have the same experience. It’s healthy for everyone in the family and is also good business - employers know that too.”

The 26-week entitlement could still also be split between parents, and it will be on top of the current provision of two weeks unpaid leave for partners.

A partner would be eligible for the payment if they were employed for at least an average of 10 hours a week for any 26 of the 52 weeks just before the due date of the baby, or the date they became the carer of a child under 6 permanently.

The policy comes after Labour was criticised for voting down National MP Nicola Willis’ members’ bill, which would allow parents to choose to split the 26 weeks paid parental leave and have both parents home at the same time.

That bill was supported by all other parties in Parliament other than Labour – a move Willis said was “a shameful day” for Labour.

At the time, Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni said Labour would have its own policy on paid parental leave. The main objection to Willis’ bill was that it would mean babies might not have a parent at home with them for as long as the 26 weeks provided for.

Hipkins said he had taken leave after the birth of his children. “I know that was a decision I was incredibly fortunate to make. This policy will help remove some of the financial barriers to partners taking parental leave.”

MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan said the Paid Partner’s scheme would give families more flexibility. She said that prior to 2017 there had been a very low uptake of a portion of paid parental leave being transferred to the second carer. However, in the last five years that had expanded significantly.

Hipkins pointed to Labour’s record on paid parental leave – from introducing it in 2002, to expanding it from 18 weeks to 26 weeks after 2017 and the recent Budget move to lift payments by $51 a week.

It had also introduced a 3 per cent government contribution to KiwiSaver for those on paid parental leave, starting in mid-2024.