Employer Action Code: Act
Spain's social security system provides paid maternity and paternity leaves of equal duration for both parents to encourage shared responsibility for child rearing. The latest reforms, under Royal Decree 9/2025, amend the Workers Statute to increase the durations of paid maternity, paternity and adoption leaves and to align Spain's framework with EU Directive 2019/1158 on work/life balance.
Key details
Changes include:
- For leave periods starting on or after July 31, 2025, maternity, paternity, and adoption leave increased from 16 weeks to 17 weeks, further extended by two weeks per child in cases of multiple births/adoptions or in the event of the birth/adoption of a child with a disability. For single parents, leave is increased to 32 weeks. Benefits are paid by social security at 100% of the employee's regulatory base, subject to the statutory maximum contribution base (4,909.50 euros per month in 2025)
- The requirement that at least six weeks must be taken after birth or placement is unchanged. After that, up to 11 weeks (22 weeks for single parents) will be available on a full-time or part-time basis until the child is age 12 months. The remaining two weeks (four weeks for single parents) will be available until the child reaches age eight. The leave may be taken consecutively or divided into separate periods
- Within the existing eight-week parental leave entitlement, up to two weeks are now paid (four weeks for single parents), which may be taken at any time before the child reaches age eight. In total, each parent is now entitled to 19 weeks of paid family leave. The two weeks of paid parental leave apply retroactively to births and adoptions occurring on or after August 2, 2024, although such claims will be possible starting January 1, 2026. Note: Initially, under Spain's 2023 transposition of the directive, an option for eight weeks of unpaid parental leave was introduced; however, this did not meet the minimum requirement under the EU directive. Paid benefits are provided by Social Security at 100% of the employee's regulatory base, subject to the statutory maximum contribution base (4,909.50 euros per month in 2025)
Employer implications
Of companies surveyed by WTW, 7% provide maternity leave beyond statutory requirements, with a median duration of 20 weeks fully paid. Employers should review the changes to ensure that their HR policies and practices, as well as employment agreements, meet the new standards.
