Among its main novelties, it will make those with a single parent with two children have the same rights as large families
The Government approved this Tuesday the family law after months of tough negotiations between partners that have cut some of the measures with the highest social spending from the initial project transferred by the Minister of Social Rights, Ione Belarra, almost a year ago.
On the table of the Council of Ministers comes a draft that includes a paid leave of 5 days -not from 7 to 9 as Belarra claimed- for the care of family members and cohabitants, single-parent families with two children are considered numerous and creates another leave of 8 weeks without remuneration for fathers and mothers of children up to 8 years of age.
It has been left out that single-parent families can enjoy both permissions by birth -paternity and maternity-although this aspect continues to be negotiated, according to EFE sources from Social Rights, or it could try to include it throughout the parliamentary process.
The draft does incorporate the expansion of parenting assistance in the 2023 budgets, but it is still not universal, as Belarra wanted. Thus, as of January 1, not only working mothers of children between 0 and 3 years old will receive 100 euros per month per child (125 euros in the case of single-parent households), but also those who are unemployed or who have been on Social Security for at least 30 days.
According to the law, those of a single parent with two children will have the same rights as large familiesfamilies with two children where an ascendant or descendant has a disability and families with two children headed by a victim of gender violence or by a spouse who has obtained sole guardianship and custody without the right to alimony.
Almost a year of negotiations and several postponements
It was in December 2021 when the Ministry of Social Rights transferred the text prepared by his department to the ministries of Finance, Justice, Equality and Inclusion for negotiation before transfer to the Council of Ministers.
Sources from that ministry then recognized the difficulties in the Ministry of Finance to open a channel for dialogue and until a month ago they continued to hold that department responsible for the delays in the approval of the law.
Last May, Belarra and the Minister of Equality, Irene Monterothey announced an agreement to approve in September the law elaborated “as a team” between the two departments and ventured the difficult” negotiation until obtaining a law “the most courageous possible” and that recognizes the greatest number of rights possible for “all families”.
Along the way, some of the great proposals have been falling and, above all, more expensive, such as the extension to 6 months of permits for birth and adoptionwhich is currently 16 weeks (4 months) and which Belarra proposed to increase by two additional weeks each year, starting in 2023 and completing that six-month goal in 2026.
Also, the possibility ofenjoy the birth permit by second degree relatives of consanguinity or affinity or cohabitants who are committed to raising them, in the cases of homes with mothers who raise their children alone.
In October, the agreement between the partners of the Government to agree on the General State Budget collected the commitment to approve the law urgently before the end of the monthtogether with a minimum content agreement, such as the new eight-week permit for the care of minors up to 8 years of age.
Also the extension of the breeding rent of 100 euros advancing towards universalization and considering single mothers with two children as large families.
Workers who have to attend to cohabitants or family members up to the second degree may take advantage of the 5-day permit, which finally includes the text that reaches the Council of Ministers; andTwo days of paid leave are currently collected for death or serious illness.
Another aspect that also declined along the way was Belarra’s proposal that the Common-law couples can file the income statement jointly to move towards the legal equalization of married and unmarried couples.
The main objective of the law, which was included among the commitments with the EU in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Planremains intact: the legal recognition of all existing family forms in Spain to equalize their rights and improve social protection.