sou · H5B3101 · 2017-12-18 00:00:00 — I budgetpropositionen föreslås en höjning av inkomsttaket vid beräkning av sjukpenninggrundande inkomst från 7,5 till 8,0 pris- basbelopp . Ett uttryckligt undantag från höjningen görs för bl.a. graviditetspenning. Utredningen anser att det är motiverat att höja taket även inom graviditetspenningen. Utred- ningen föreslår att inkomsttaket vid beräkning av sjukpenninggrun- dande inkomst vid graviditetspenning ska vara samma som inom sjuk- försäkringen och därmed höjas från 7,5 till 8,0 prisbasbelopp. Höjning av inkomsttaket vid beräkning av sjukpenninggrundande inkomst I budgetpropositionen föreslås en höjning av inkomsttaket vid beräkning av sjukpenninggrundande inkomst för ett flertal sjuk- försäkringsförmåner från 7,5 till 8,0 prisbasbelopp . Ett uttryckligt undantag från höjningen görs för bl.a. till- fällig föräldrapenning. Utredningen anser att det är motiverat att höja taket även inom den tillfälliga föräldrapenningen. Utredningen före- slår att inkomsttaket vid beräkning av sjukpenninggrundande inkomst vid tillfällig föräldrapenning ska vara samma som inom sjukförsäk- ringen och därmed höjas från 7,5 till 8,0 prisbasbelopp. Behov av översyn av regelverket om tillfällig föräldrapenning Regelverket avseende den tillfälliga föräldrapenningen är komplicerat och det finns konstaterade gränsdragningsproblem till andra stöd- system. Utredningen bedömer att det finns ett behov av en övergri- pande översyn av regelverket i syfte att förenkla och göra det mer lätt- överskådligt. Det finns dock inte utrymme för en sådan översyn inom ramen för utredningens arbete. Utredningen föreslår vissa mindre ändringar i olika författningar, där- ibland socialförsäkringsbalken och föräldraledighetslagen. Exempelvis föreslås en kodifiering av den reglering som har etablerats i rättspraxis om att en förälder får återta ett avstående av rätt till föräldrapenning till en annan förälder för dagar som inte har utyttjats samt ändringar i bestämmelserna om avräkning för utländsk förmån som motsvarar föräldrapenning med anledning av barns födelse. Ökade kunskaper om föräldraförsäkring, föräldraledighet och föräldrapenningtillägg samt uppföljning av förslagen Utredningen förslår att regeringen ska ge i uppdrag att utveckla möjligheterna för föräldrar att göra en tidig planering av föräldraledigheten, med utgångspunkt i den nya modellen för föräld- raförsäkringen. Vidare ska och Pensionsmyndig- heten ges i uppdrag att fortsätta arbetet med att informera om konse- kvenser, , av att fördela föräldrapenningen och föräldraledigheten jämställt. Särskilt företagares behov av vägledning, med avseende på exempelvis beräkning av sjukpenninggrundande in- komst, behöver tillgodoses. Kampanjer och andra åtgärder för att upp- muntra till ett jämställt användande av föräldrapenningförmånerna bör utvärderas. Utredningen gör bedömningen att arbetsmarknadens parter bör uppmuntras att fortsätta ge god rådgivning och information om exi- sterande föräldrapenningtillägg och föräldralön. Utredningen bedömer att det bör göras en uppföljning av konse- kvenserna av de förslag som lämnas. Utredningen föreslår att samtliga författningsändringar ska träda i kraft med vissa övergångsbestämmelser. Exempelvis ska den nu gällande modellen för föräldrapenningen gälla även för tid efter ikraftträdandet i fråga om barn som har fötts före eller, vid adoption, när den som har adopterat barnet har fått barnet i sin vård före det datumet. Konsekvenser av utredningens förslag Utredningen bedömer att förslagen samlat kommer att bidra till en mer jämn fördelning mellan föräldrarna av föräldrapenning, tillfällig föräldrapenning och föräldraledighet. Förslagen bedöms också bidra till arbetet för att nå de jämställdhetspolitiska delmålen om ekonomisk jämställdhet och jämn fördelning av det obetalda hem- och omsorgs- arbetet. Utredningens utgångspunkt är genomgående att barn gynnas av en tidig och nära anknytning till sina föräldrar. De förslag som utred- ningen lämnar avser att medföra en jämnare fördelning av föräldra- ledighet och föräldrapenning mellan barnets föräldrar och förväntas också medföra en jämnare fördelning av omvårdnaden av barnet, vilket främjar en god kontakt mellan barnet och fler än en förälder. Utredningen gör bedömningen att förslagen samlat leder till be- sparingar för staten efter ikraftträdandet men att förslagen fullt infasade innebär något ökade utgifter. Prognosperioden är dock lång och därmed mycket osäker. The inquiry’s remit has been to conduct a review of the regulations governing parental leave and parental insurance. The aim has been to identify problems and propose measures that lead to the parental insurance system making a greater contribution than is currently the case to gender equality in the labour market, gender-equal parenthood and also continuing to make a contribution to providing children with good conditions in which to grow up. The inquiry published the interim report Begränsningar i föräldrapenningen för föräldrar som kommer till med barn [Restrictions on parental benefit for parents who come to with children] (SOU 2016:73) in October 2016. This report contains an account of the inquiry’s principal remit. The inquiry has been tasked with analysing and proposing measures that result in a gender-equal distribution of parental leave and parental insurance benefits. Within the scope of this, the inquiry has had to specifically analyse the feasibility and consequences of reserving further months for which one parent cannot surrender their right to parental benefit to the other parent, including a complete reservation of parental benefit between the parents. The inquiry has also had to analyse whether the age limits for the right to parental leave are well balanced and whether there is a need for changes. The inquiry has also had the task of identifying and analysing how the parental insur- ance system needs to be modernised in order to stand up to new challenges in the labour market and in family life. As part of this, the inquiry has had to focus its survey and analysis of contemporary working life on the conditions of entrepreneurs and students and their opportunities to use parental insurance. The inquiry has also had to investigate whether the rules for pregnancy benefit are sufficiently well adapted to contemporary working life and whether they provide appropriate cover for those women who have a reduced work capacity at the end of their pregnancy. In addition, the inquiry has had to identify problems and investigate the feasibility of making it easier for different family constellations to use parental insurance. The inquiry’s remit has included conducting certain surveys and submit- ting, where necessary, proposals concerning changes and measures, in- cluding necessary proposed statutes. The inquiry has consistently had to analyse the need for simplifications and to work to streamline the regulations on the basis of the various aims of the parental insur- ance system. In terms of the prerequisites for this work, the inquiry has had to be guided by the principle of what is best for the child and of the child’s right to care and contact with their parents and has also had to keep the principle of income replacement as one of the founda- tions of the parental insurance system. – what does contemporary working life look like? The main purpose of parental insurance is to make it possible for parents to combine work with family life. The insurance system is designed as to encourage participation in the labour market. Con- sequently, women’s and men’s working lives and how the labour market functions are of central significance to the structure and function of the parental insurance system. The inquiry has surveyed the interaction between working life and parental insurance and what opportunities and challenges contemporary working life presents for parents’ potential to combine work and family. The inquiry notes that the labour market is still highly gender segregated. Compared to men, women more often have temporary jobs, take, on average, more time off work in conjunction with be- coming parents and are more likely to work part-time. Women also have a higher average rate of sick leave than men and one of the reasons for this is that women generally have greater responsibility for the family and domestic work. Despite women having, on average, a higher level of education than men, their average earnings are lower. There are also fewer women than men in senior management positions. An important and sizeable section of the labour market is made up of entrepreneurs, a group in which the conditions and circum- stances of work are very varied. The inquiry has carried out a survey of entrepreneurs’ conditions and opportunities to use parental insur- ance. It can be concluded that they make somewhat less use of parental insurance than employees. Within the context of this survey, the inquiry describes various factors that could explain this relationship. The inquiry also describes various proposals that have been submitted from the entrepreneur community that are intended to address those aspects of the parental insurance system that can be difficult for entrepreneurs to use in the same way as employees. The inquiry has also surveyed students’ conditions and oppor- tunities to use parental insurance. In the context of this survey, the inquiry describes how the parental insurance system is designed for students who become parents or for parents who start studying. The inquiry notes that students are a heterogeneous group and that the situation of parents who are students can vary greatly. The inquiry describes various proposals that have been submitted in order to resolve some of the difficulties encountered by students who want to use parental insurance. The inquiry has also conducted a general review of the regula- tions for pregnancy benefit in relation to contemporary working life. One conclusion drawn by the inquiry is that there are certain prob- lems with pregnancy benefit, which was designed at a time when physically taxing work was more common than it is today. Accord- ing to previous reviews, for example, there is scope to grant more women pregnancy benefit pursuant to the current regulations than the interpretation of this entails. It is also the case that many of the women whose applications for pregnancy benefit are refused still receive compensation from the social insurance system. The inquiry sets out a number of alternative designs that could be used for preg- nancy benefit. The inquiry also describes how norms in society, family life and working life influence conditions and the of combining working life and family life on equal terms. The living circumstances of families with children and the view of parenthood have changed since parental insurance was introduced. Around 25 per cent of all children have parents who do not live together. Two in ten families consist of a single parent, most often a single mother. Just under one in ten families is a reconstituted family, i.e. a family in which one or both parents has children from a previous relationship. There are no official statistics on how common it is for children to have more than two adults exercising parent- hood, for example when a single woman or a lesbian couple choose to share parenthood with a man or a male couple. It can be con- cluded that children have a variety of family situations and that these also vary over time. The inquiry has conducted a review of the current regulations in order to see in which cases there are restrictions placed on the poten- tial of different family constellations to use parental insurance bene- fits. It can be concluded that to some extent the legislator has taken into account the difficulties that may be present for family constel- lations other than the traditional nuclear family, but that the current regulatory framework nevertheless results in restrictions on the potential of some family constellations to use parental insurance benefits. These restrictions mainly apply to parental benefit. The inquiry’s deliberations and proposals in brief The report provides a number of proposals regarding parental allow- ance, temporary parental allowance and pregnancy allowance. The proposals presented are designed so that they are generally to be viewed as a whole and are largely interdependent when it comes to achieving the desired effects. The inquiry also makes certain assess- ments related to the remit. A new model for parental benefit A new model for parental benefit should be introduced The inquiry is of the opinion that the current age limits that apply to parental benefit are not fit for purpose. Parental benefit should be further concentrated to the time of the child’s birth and the early years of the child’s life. This is consistent with the primary purpose of parental benefit; to make it possible for parents to combine family life and working life, partly by compensating them for loss of earnings from work as a result of taking leave in conjunction with the birth or adoption of a child. This is also consistent with the fact that the vast majority of parental benefit days should be provided in order to allow parents to take longer continuous periods of leave during the early part of a child’s life or immediately after a child joins a new family. Parental benefit days should subsequently be provided in order to enable shorter periods of leave to be taken. This is also judged to contribute to a more even distribution of parental benefit between the parents and means that men are encouraged to use a larger proportion of the parental benefit when the child is young. This has benefits in terms of how women and men distribute both unpaid and paid work within the household in both the short and the long term. On the basis of that which is stated above, as well as to refine parental benefit in relation to its primary purpose of providing parents with the opportunity to care for a child in its early years, the inquiry proposes a new model for this benefit. Under the new model, it will be possible to provide parental benefit to the parents for a combined total of up to 460 days, with an addi- tional maximum of 170 days for each additional child in the event of multiple births or multiple adoptions. It will be possible to provide parental benefit up until the child’s tenth birthday and it will be distributed in a certain way during this period. Up to and including the child’s third year, calculated from their birth or an equivalent point in time, it will be possible, as a general rule, to provide parental benefit for up to 390 of the maximum of 460 days, up to a further 142 of the additional maximum of 170 days for each additional child in the event of multiple births or multiple adoptions. The inquiry proposes that the time limit for taking the days reserved for the period in question be strict, i.e. it will not be possible to save days to use in the subsequent period. The inquiry’s overall assessments concerning the choice of limit for the majority of the parental benefit days and the number of parental benefit days that are allocated to this period are based on a number of factors. The inquiry thinks that there should be a strong emphasis on the child’s perspective. What is meant here by ‘the child’s perspective’ is that children are to be given the prerequisites for good conditions in which to grow up and a right to be taken care of by both parents and that children have different needs in terms of parents, attachment and care. Consequently, parents need to continue being allowed some flexibility in terms of how they use parental benefit. Reducing the limit as per the inquiry’s proposal still provides, both in itself, but primarily in combination with other proposals concerning the model for parental benefit, a strong incentive to concentrate the longer period of parental leave and to distribute the leave and parental benefit more evenly between the parents in the child’s early years. The number of days as per the limit proposed by the inquiry in its interim report (SOU 2016:73) for parents who come to with children after the child’s first year or life is to be adjusted on the basis of the fact that these days can be used up until the child’s third birthday, instead of up until the child’s twelfth birthday. The inquiry has applied the same method to calculate the number of days as was used in the interim report, but with some adjustments due to uncertainty regarding some of the factors. There should also continue to be an opportunity to receive parental insurance benefits for children who are older than three years. This is to provide genuine opportunities for parents to spend time at home with their children in this period of their children’s lives and to, in line with the principal aim of the parental insurance system, make it easier to combine family life and working life. The inquiry proposes as a principal rule that parental benefit be provided for a maximum of ten days per year in the period subsequent to the child’s third year and up to the child’s tenth birthday, with an addi- tional maximum of four days per child per year available for every additional child in the event of multiple births and multiple adop- tions. It will not be possible to save parental benefit from one year to the next. The inquiry has also made overall assessments based on a number of factors when deciding on the choice of the uppermost age limit for parental benefit and the distribution of parental benefit days for this period. The inquiry believes it is more important to create a system that provides more generous benefits during the period of a child’s life when the need for parental care is at its greatest, rather than extending the period for which parental benefit is available into a period of the child’s life when the need for parental care is generally not as high. To arrive at this position, the inquiry has examined the various requirements for leave that were identified and has used the prerequisites that are ’s work as a basis, taking into account factors such as the estimated costs the proposed reforms will have when they are fully implemented. The proposed model, with its distribution of parental benefit days between different periods, means that benefits become more equal as all parents are guaranteed parental benefit throughout the entire benefit period without needing to save parental benefit days. If parents have shared custody of the child, each parent will, as a principal rule, receive parental benefit for half of the maximum time for which parental benefit can be provided up to and including the child’s third year and half of the maximum time per year that parental benefit can be provided subsequent to the child’s third year up to the child’s tenth birthday. No amendments to the Parental Leave Act provisions concerning the opportunity to take leave without parental benefit The inquiry’s assessment is that a parent should continue to have the right to take full-time leave from work in order to care for a child until the child is 18 months old. Reducing the opportunity to take unpaid leave from 18 months to the age of, e.g. 12 months would not automatically result in a shorted period of leave. It is not the length of the parental leave that is problematic; it is how the leave is distributed between the parents. The opportunity to reduce working hours in the child’s early years can allow parents more time with their children and family, reduce the time pressure on them and result in greater balance between working life and family life. The inquiry thus proposes an entirely new model for the provision of parental benefit. In light of the proposal and the potential need parents may have to reduce their working hours, the inquiry’s assessment is that a parent should con- tinue to have the right to reduce their working hours by up to one quarter in order to care for children under the age of eight years or older children who have not yet completed their first year of school. If a child who is older than 18 months is being looked after in a home, the parents only have the right to reduce their working hours by 25 per cent. In cases where the child has substan- tial care needs, this may be insufficient. Consequently, the inquiry’s assessment is that the question of whether parents’ right to full-time leave without parental benefit should be expanded to also cover children who are over the age of 18 months should be con- sidered in another context. Removal of the minimum level of parental benefit The inquiry proposes that the 90 days of parental benefit at the minimum level be scrapped. Parental benefit at the minimum level will thus be abolished. The compensation provided for the minimum level days is so low that in many cases it does not function as com- pensation for loss of earnings from work. The parental insurance system therefore does not provide all parents with the genuine financial opportunity to care for their children for the 90 days that the minimum level encompasses. The minimum level days are also usually those that are left to expire when the child reaches their eighth birthday. It is instead proposed that the total number of parental benefit days be 460 days with compensation at the sickness benefit or basic level. The inquiry’s proposals does not differentiate between different multiple births or multiple adoptions, instead parental benefit is always provided at the sickness benefit or basic level. As a result of the minimum level being scrapped, the inquiry proposes that the specific provisions concerning the compensation level for the additional days that are allocated to parents in the event of multiple births be removed. Further reservation of time with parental benefit Distribution of parental benefit A more equal distribution of both parental benefit and parental leave has major benefits for the situation of women in the labour market. If women and men take more equal amounts of parental leave, women’s absence from the labour market decreases in both the short and the long term because longer parental leave is associated with substantial future responsibility for domestic and care work and with part-time work. time in the labour market provides better conditions for salary increases, career progression, lifetime earnings and pension contributions. Women’s financial independence is re- inforced when their degree of self-sufficiency increases. At the same time, longer leave for men will have more detrimental labour market outcomes for them as a group. For men, longer parental leave may result in a somewhat lower salary trend that would have been the case if they continued with their relatively short absence from paid work. However, the likelihood of statistical discrimination, or that longer parental leave for men signals less orientation towards work, decreases when the length of parental leave is evened out between men and women and also among men as a group. The inquiry proposes that more days be reserved The inquiry is of the opinion that parents need to be given greater incentives to share both parental benefit and parental leave more equally. However, the inquiry makes the assessment that, at present, there should not be a division of the parental benefit days in such a way that half of all the days are reserved for each of the legal guardians. It is the opinion of the inquiry that, because all families and children are different and have differing needs that may also change over time, it is important that the insurance system retain some degree of flexibility. Flexibility is highly valued by parents and makes it possible to adapt how care is organised for the child.