What maternity or paternity leave can parents take in Spain?

As with pretty much everything official in Spain, information in English (or Spanish for that matter) on the duration of maternity and paternity leave is rather unclear. In this article, we will give you a breakdown of exactly how many weeks leave new mums and dads can take and the forms you’ll need.

Standard Maternity leave in Spain

The period of statutory maternity leave in Spain is 16 weeks, from the day your baby is born or the first day of leave if that’s earlier (leave can be brought forward by up to 10 weeks prior to the due date). Leave is taken consecutively, which means that it includes weekends and public holidays. So you’ll have four months paid leave to spend with your new addition!

Standard Paternity leave in Spain

Standard paternity leave in Spain is five weeks. The first four weeks must be taken consecutively from the day of the birth of the baby. The fifth week can be taken consecutively or at any point within the first 9 months after the birth. This was increased from four weeks midway through 2018 and as of August 2018, it’s still not even updated on the Social Security website, (oh, Spain!).

On this page on Paternity leave in Spain on the Social Security website, you’ll find out how many days you will have had to work in order to claim paternity leave and also if you can take more days if it’s not your first baby.

Maternity and Paternity leave forms

Here is the link to the form for maternity and paternity leave in Spain and here is a link to the Social Security website for all the documents you will need in relation to your maternity leave in Spain. 

Helpful links to the Social Security website on maternity leave in Spain

We have also found a really handy webpage IN ENGLISH that has all the information detailed and also includes details in cases of adoption or premature births.

Here is a link to a page about leave in case of part-time employees and also interchanging leave with your partner so you can maximise both your time with baby.

Let’s hope this has cleared up your doubts and makes things that little bit easier! Let us know if you have anything to add and make sure to share with your friends that are expecting.