Minister calls parental leave rules for premature births unfair

Ragnar Þór Ingólfsson, Iceland’s minister of social affairs and housing, says the government is reviewing rules that can prevent parents of premature babies from receiving payments. He spoke to mbl.is as criticism grew of the Maternity Leave Fund’s inflexible rules and treatment of applicants.

Parents of premature babies may fail to meet the fund’s payment requirements simply because their children were born before the expected date. Critics have called for the rules to be reviewed, arguing that parents have no control over premature births.

“I completely agree that this is, of course, very unfair, and this is what we are looking into,” Ragnar Þór said. He added that he expected a change to require an amendment to the law, although he had not yet received confirmation. Such a change would require further consideration and parliamentary proceedings.

The minister said his ministry took all criticism seriously and would examine how to improve people’s experience of the system, including support for those who fall between the rules in the systems overseen by the ministry.

He said the government had already made substantial changes to the Maternity Leave Fund’s legal framework. These include increased leave rights for parents of multiple births, expanded rights for parents dealing with illness during pregnancy, higher minimum payments for those outside the standard system and bereavement leave for parents who suffer a loss.

Ragnar Þór said the government had also ensured that changes to the parental leave system applied regardless of a child’s date of birth and covered all parents within the system at the time.

He acknowledged that the laws governing payments in the social security system, unemployment insurance and the Maternity Leave Fund set clear eligibility criteria, leaving limited flexibility. However, he said there was scope to improve the service, including the fund’s communication with applicants and the speed and personal nature of its responses.