Family leave: what is this “new right” announced by Aurore Bergé?

Responding to the changes that families are experiencing: this seems to be Aurore Bergé’s objective. The Minister of Solidarity announced on Wednesday the creation in 2025 of a “new right” for families so that young parents can stop working to look after their baby, while being better compensated. “From 2025, we will create a new right for families,” said the minister in an interview published on the Express website.

“After maternity leave and paternity leave, parents will each be entitled to family leave, which they can take at the same time or one after the other, full-time or part-time,” he said. she detailed. This “family leave” will be “much better paid” than current parental leave, compensated to the tune of 429 euros per month.

The new leave could, however, “coexist” with the old one. Aurore Bergé is currently leading consultations with trade unions and employers' organizations with a view to reforming parental leave. In July, shortly after entering the government, the Minister of Solidarity called for "thinking" about "a shorter but better compensated parental leave to give families a real choice", attracting a series of criticisms as to its possible shortening.

Created in 1977 and reformed several times since, parental leave allows parents to suspend their professional activity until the child is three years old.

It was notably reformed under the Hollande presidency in 2014: the compensation was reduced and the duration was reduced to two years if it is taken by only one parent. The third year could only be taken by the other parent. The goal was for 25% of fathers to take it.

However, the rate of recourse for fathers has almost not increased with this reform: less than 1% of fathers take it, according to a 2021 OFCE study. And the number of parents using it fell by 500,000 in 2013, to 246,000 in 2020, according to government figures.