Maternity benefit and parental allowance in Czechia: who pays, how much and for how long

Having a baby in Czechia brings two separate kinds of support. Maternity benefit and paternity benefit come from sickness insurance and are paid by the Czech Social Security Administration (ČSSZ), through its district offices.¹ Parental allowance and the birth grant are state benefits paid by the Labour Office (Úřad práce, ÚP).² This page explains both, what replaced child benefit, and which foreigners can claim. It isn't legal advice: the Labour Office and your district social security office decide your case.

Which benefits can you get for a new baby?

• Maternity benefit (peněžitá pomoc v mateřství, PPM, usually just "mateřská") replaces part of your earnings around the birth, if you're sickness-insured.³
• Paternity benefit (otcovská) gives an insured father 2 paid weeks in the first weeks after the birth.⁴
• Parental allowance (rodičovský příspěvek) pays a parent who cares for the youngest child in the family full-time, until the child is 3. It isn't means-tested.²
• The birth grant (porodné) is a one-off payment for a first or second child, for families on lower incomes.⁵
• The child bonus (bonus na dítě) is part of the state social aid benefit for households on lower incomes, and took over from child benefit.⁶

Maternity benefit is about your job; parental allowance is about caring for the child. Most families draw maternity benefit first and parental allowance after it.

Who gets maternity benefit, and how much is it?

You must have been sickness-insured for at least 270 days in the 2 years before maternity benefit starts, and be insured on the day it starts.³⁷ A woman whose job ended while she was pregnant keeps the right for 180 days after the insurance ended.⁷

• Employees are insured if they earn at least 4,500 Kč a month in 2026, or 12,000 Kč a month on an agreement to perform work (DPP).⁸
• The self-employed are sickness-insured only if they sign up for it, and a self-employed mother also needs 180 days of her own self-employed insurance in the last year.⁹ Self-employed contributions explains how to sign up.
• Registered job seekers aren't sickness-insured, so they get no maternity benefit, but they can claim parental allowance from the birth.⁷

Maternity benefit is 70% of your reduced daily assessment base (denní vyměřovací základ), worked out from your gross earnings over the past year.¹⁰ Earnings are counted in full up to a first threshold and only partly above it, so in 2026 the benefit can't exceed 2,000 Kč a day.¹¹

It lasts 28 weeks, or 37 weeks after twins or more.¹² You choose a start date between the start of the 8th and the 6th week before the due date; if you don't, it starts at the 6th.¹² It never lasts less than 14 weeks, or ends before 6 weeks after the birth.¹²

You can work for another employer while you get it, but not in the job it's paid from.⁷

How do you claim maternity benefit?

Your doctor, usually your gynaecologist, sends a confirmation of the due date to the social security office electronically and gives you its identifier. You tell your employer the day you're starting, with that identifier, in a way you can prove, and your employer passes the claim on.¹³ The money comes from the social security office, not from your employer.¹

If you're self-employed, or you work here for a foreign employer, you apply to the district social security office yourself.¹⁴ A self-employed person with a data box must apply electronically.¹³

Can the father take over maternity benefit?

Yes. From the start of the 7th week after the birth, the father, or the mother's husband, can take over maternity benefit for at least 7 days in a row, if he's insured for 270 days himself.¹⁵⁷ The parents sign a paper agreement, and the mother's signature must be officially verified, or verified by the sickness-insurance office.¹⁵

He can get it for at most 22 weeks, or 31 weeks with twins, and the weeks the mother has already drawn count towards that, apart from the first 6 weeks after the birth.⁷

What is paternity benefit?

Two weeks of paternity benefit, at 70% of the reduced daily assessment base, so also at most 2,000 Kč a day in 2026.⁴¹¹ It must start within 6 weeks of the birth, or of taking a child into care, and it's paid only once, even for twins.⁴

An employee only needs to be insured on the day it starts and claims it through the employer. A self-employed father needs 3 months of his own sickness insurance just before it.⁴ If the child was born abroad, the employer needs proof that he's the father, such as the birth certificate.¹⁶

How does parental allowance work?

A parent who cares for the youngest child in the family personally and full-time, for the whole of each calendar month, gets parental allowance until the child turns 3, or until the total is paid out, whichever comes first.¹⁷¹⁸

• The total: 350,000 Kč for a youngest child born or adopted from 1 January 2024.¹⁷¹⁹ For a child born up to the end of 2023, it's 300,000 Kč, until the child turns 4.²⁰
• Twins or more: double the total since 1 January 2026.²¹ This also covers twins born in 2024 or 2025 who are still under 3: 700,000 Kč. If you were already paid 525,000 Kč, apply again for the rest.²¹
• While maternity benefit runs, parental allowance is paid only if it's higher, and only the difference.²² If your maternity benefit is below 15,000 Kč a month, or you get none, you can claim parental allowance from the birth.²⁰
• A similar benefit from another country for the same child is taken off the total.²³
• A new baby: if another child is born before the total is used up, the allowance moves to the new youngest child. The unused rest is paid out at once, but only if a parent has a daily assessment base, or is self-employed, at that date.²⁴

You apply at the Labour Office for where you live, online through its client portal Jenda or on the official form at a branch, and you can claim up to 3 months back.²⁰²⁵

How fast can you draw parental allowance?

You choose the monthly amount, and you can change it after every 3 full months, but never backwards.²⁶²⁷

• Up to 15,000 Kč a month, whatever your earnings. If neither parent has a daily assessment base, for example because neither was insured, this is the most you can choose. The cap has been 15,000 Kč since 1 July 2025.²⁶²⁸²⁹
• More than 15,000 Kč a month, if a parent's daily assessment base, at the youngest child's birth, allows it. The cap is 70% of 30 times that base, which is 30 days of maternity benefit at that parent's rate. The Labour Office uses the higher of the two parents' bases, even if that parent isn't the one claiming.²⁶²⁸

So a parent who earned well can take the total in a shorter time and go back to work sooner, and a parent who wants support for longer chooses less each month. The allowance still ends when the child turns 3, and whatever is left then isn't paid.¹⁷ With twins or more, the 15,000 Kč limit is 30,000 Kč.²⁸

Can you work, or use a nursery, while you get it?

Yes. You can work and keep parental allowance, with no earnings limit, as long as another adult looks after the child while you work.³⁰³¹ A child under 2 can attend a children's group, kindergarten or similar for up to 120 hours a month; from 2 the hours aren't checked.³¹ Nurseries and kindergartens explains the options.

What changes in 2026 and 2027?

• Twins: the doubled total applies from 1 January 2026, as above.²¹
• Student parents: since 1 September 2026, a parent on parental allowance who is still a dependent child and studies full-time for a first degree at a Czech university, or at a higher vocational school, can also get student-parent support (podpora studujícího rodiče): a third of the monthly minimum wage, except in July and August.³²
• A higher total from 2027: for a youngest child born or adopted from 1 January 2027, the total rises to 400,000 Kč, or 800,000 Kč for twins or more.³³
• Before the birth, from 2027: a pregnant woman will be able to claim 15,000 Kč a month for the 2 calendar months before the month of the due date. It counts towards the total, and it can be claimed only online or with help at the Labour Office or a contracted post office.³⁴³⁵

What happened to child benefit?

Child benefit (přídavek na dítě) was abolished on 1 October 2025.³⁶ Families who already got it and applied for the new benefit by the end of 2025 were paid until 30 June 2026; no one gets it any more.³⁷

It was replaced by the state social aid benefit (dávka státní sociální pomoci, the "superdávka"), which merged child benefit with three other benefits.³⁸ Its child part is the child bonus:⁶

• Who: households with income up to 4 times their living minimum, where every adult who doesn't count as vulnerable is in work or otherwise counts as work-active.⁶ A parent caring for a child under 4 counts as vulnerable, and since 1 October 2026 so does a single parent of a child under 15.³⁹
• How much: in 2026, 1,000 Kč a month per child, falling to zero as income nears 4 times the living minimum, and 500 Kč at the lowest incomes unless everyone in the household is vulnerable.⁶
• Parental allowance that follows maternity benefit counts as income from work for the benefit's work bonus.⁴⁰
• How to apply: one application for the whole household, online in Jenda or at any Labour Office branch. It's reviewed every 3 months.⁴¹

What about the birth grant?

The birth grant (porodné) is paid once: in 2026, 13,000 Kč for a woman's first live-born child and 10,000 Kč for her second.⁵ It's only for families whose income is no more than 2.7 times their living minimum, tested over the calendar quarter before the birth, and you can apply at the Labour Office up to a year after the birth.⁵⁴²

Which foreigners are entitled?

Maternity and paternity benefit depend only on Czech sickness insurance, not on your residence status: if you work here and are insured, they apply to you as to anyone.³⁴

Parental allowance and the birth grant need permanent residence and your real home (bydliště) in Czechia.⁴³ For parental allowance, that applies only to the parent who claims and to the child.⁴³ Without permanent residence, you're also entitled if, among others:⁴⁴

• you hold a long-term residence permit (not the special long-term residence for people from Ukraine) and are employed here, or worked here for at least 6 months and are now a registered job seeker;
• you're the family member, with a long-term residence permit, of someone in that group;
• you hold an employee card or an EU Blue Card, or, for parental allowance only, an intra-company transfer card issued for at least 9 months;
• you have subsidiary protection; or
• you're covered by the EU rules on social security, for example as an EU citizen working here.

A long-term visa isn't a long-term residence permit. Until 30 September 2025, any foreigner qualified a year after registering their stay; that route was abolished.⁴⁵ The Ministry of Labour can waive the permanent-residence condition in justified cases.⁴⁶

The child bonus is for permanent residents, EU citizens registered here for more than 3 months, and some other groups. Holders of an employee card, a Blue Card or a few other permits can get the child bonus, but no other part of the benefit.⁴⁷

If you or your partner work in another EU country, the countries agree between them which one pays family benefits first, and the other may pay the difference.⁴⁸

What about temporary protection?

People with temporary protection, and holders of special long-term residence for people from Ukraine, get no parental allowance, no birth grant and no state social aid benefit, unless EU law gives them equal treatment.⁴⁹ Maternity and paternity benefit aren't affected: if you work here and are sickness-insured, you get them like anyone else.³⁴⁹

Instead, the humanitarian benefit pays 3,490 Kč a month for a child in 2026, or 4,188 Kč for a child aged 6 to 10.⁵⁰ After the first application, you can claim it only through the online application.⁵⁰ Temporary protection covers the rest of your rights.

Sources

1. Sickness Insurance Act (Act 187/2006 Coll.), §108(1)(a). ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. State Social Support Act (Act 117/1995 Coll.), §2; Labour Office, "Státní sociální podpora: základní informace", up.gov.cz. ↩ ↩²

3. Sickness Insurance Act (Act 187/2006 Coll.), §32(1) to (3). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. Sickness Insurance Act (Act 187/2006 Coll.), §38a to §38c; ČSSZ, "Otcovská", cssz.gov.cz. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

5. State Social Support Act (Act 117/1995 Coll.), §44(1) and §46. ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. State Social Aid Benefit Act (Act 151/2025 Coll.), §18(1), §38 and §39(2). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

7. ČSSZ, "Peněžitá pomoc v mateřství", cssz.gov.cz. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

8. ČSSZ, "Přehled nejdůležitějších údajů pro sociální zabezpečení v roce 2026", cssz.gov.cz. ↩

9. Sickness Insurance Act (Act 187/2006 Coll.), §2(b), §11 and §32(3). ↩

10. Sickness Insurance Act (Act 187/2006 Coll.), §21(1)(b) and §37. ↩

11. ČSSZ and Labour Office, "Příručka pro nastávající rodiče 2026", cssz.gov.cz; ČSSZ, "Podrobné informace o peněžité pomoci v mateřství", reduction thresholds for 2026. ↩ ↩²

12. Sickness Insurance Act (Act 187/2006 Coll.), §33, §34(1)(a) and §35(1). ↩ ↩² ↩³

13. ČSSZ, "Zaměstnanec: mateřská", cssz.gov.cz; Sickness Insurance Act (Act 187/2006 Coll.), §109(2) and (4). ↩ ↩² ↩³

14. Sickness Insurance Act (Act 187/2006 Coll.), §3(p) and §109(2)(b). ↩

15. Sickness Insurance Act (Act 187/2006 Coll.), §32(1)(e) and (8). ↩ ↩²

16. ČSSZ, "Otcovská", documents and forms, cssz.gov.cz. ↩

17. State Social Support Act (Act 117/1995 Coll.), §30(1). ↩ ↩² ↩³

18. State Social Support Act (Act 117/1995 Coll.), §30(1) and §31. ↩

19. Act 407/2023 Coll., part I, points 9 and 10, and part II. ↩

20. Labour Office, "Rodičovský příspěvek", up.gov.cz. ↩ ↩² ↩³

21. Act 290/2025 Coll., part three, Art. IV. ↩ ↩² ↩³

22. State Social Support Act (Act 117/1995 Coll.), §30b(3). ↩

23. State Social Support Act (Act 117/1995 Coll.), §30(7). ↩

24. State Social Support Act (Act 117/1995 Coll.), §30a(1) and (2). ↩ ↩²

25. State Social Support Act (Act 117/1995 Coll.), §67(1) and (2). ↩

26. State Social Support Act (Act 117/1995 Coll.), §30(2) and (3). ↩ ↩² ↩³

27. State Social Support Act (Act 117/1995 Coll.), §30(5). ↩

28. Labour Office, "Rodičovský příspěvek", amount of the allowance, up.gov.cz. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

29. Act 84/2025 Coll., part III, point 1, and part XV. ↩

30. Labour Office, "Rodičovský příspěvek", what parental allowance is, up.gov.cz. ↩

31. State Social Support Act (Act 117/1995 Coll.), §31(3). ↩ ↩²

32. State Social Support Act (Act 117/1995 Coll.), §11, §33 and §34, added by Act 152/2025 Coll. from 1 September 2026. ↩

33. Act 152/2026 Coll., parts I, II and VI. ↩

34. State Social Support Act (Act 117/1995 Coll.), §30d, in the version in force from 1 January 2027; Act 93/2026 Coll., part I. ↩

35. State Social Support Act (Act 117/1995 Coll.), §68(2), in the version in force from 1 January 2027. ↩

36. Act 152/2025 Coll., part XIII, point 2, and part LXIII. ↩

37. Act 152/2025 Coll., part XIV, point 1, as amended by Act 35/2026 Coll. ↩

38. Labour Office, "Dávka státní sociální pomoci (superdávka)", up.gov.cz; Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, "Péče a finance", mpsv.gov.cz. ↩ ↩²

39. State Social Aid Benefit Act (Act 151/2025 Coll.), §7(1)(e), as amended by Act 152/2026 Coll. from 1 October 2026. ↩

40. State Social Aid Benefit Act (Act 151/2025 Coll.), §40(2)(f). ↩

41. Labour Office, "Dávka státní sociální pomoci (superdávka)", how to apply and reviews, up.gov.cz. ↩

42. Labour Office, "Porodné", up.gov.cz. ↩

43. State Social Support Act (Act 117/1995 Coll.), §3(1) and §31(1). ↩ ↩²

44. State Social Support Act (Act 117/1995 Coll.), §3(2) and (3). ↩ ↩²

45. Act 152/2025 Coll., part XIII, point 8. ↩

46. State Social Support Act (Act 117/1995 Coll.), §3(6). ↩

47. State Social Aid Benefit Act (Act 151/2025 Coll.), §15(1), (2) and (4). ↩

48. Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, "Zvláštní úprava v jednotlivých oblastech sociálního zabezpečení", family benefits, mpsv.gov.cz. ↩

49. Lex Ukrajina on employment and social security (Act 66/2022 Coll.), §8b. ↩ ↩²

50. Act 66/2022 Coll., §6b(1); Labour Office, "Pomoc pro občany Ukrajiny", humanitarian benefit, up.gov.cz. ↩ ↩²