The PLFSS 2026, presented at the Council of Ministers in Paris on October 14, 2025, creates a birth leave. This leave is two months per parent. It can be taken simultaneously or alternately. The project was submitted to the Assembly immediately afterward. The targeted entry into force is 2027, with compensation proportional to salary, specified by decree. Stated objective: demographic rearmament, while controlling the ONDAM and a Social Security deficit reduced to €17.4 billion in 2026.
Essential Facts
The 2026 Social Security Financing Bill (PLFSS 2026) reintroduces, in its version presented at the Council of Ministers on October 14, 2025, and submitted to the National Assembly on the same day, a birth leave open to each parent. The measure would allow up to two additional months per parent, simultaneously or alternately, in addition to existing leaves maternity leave in France (16 weeks) and, for the first occurrence, paternity leave (28 days including 3 days of birth leave 3 days (birth days)). Compensation will be proportional to previous salary, its scales, ceilings, and targeted audiences will be set by decree. Planned entry into force in 2027, subject to vote, within a constrained budgetary framework (control of ONDAM and trajectory of return to balance in 2029). Furthermore, maternity leave (definition: compensated leave before/after birth) serves as a reference, as does paternity vs maternity for the articulation of rights.
A Political Promise Turned Legislative Architecture
Announced by Emmanuel Macron on January 16–17, 2024, the "birth leave" was initially conceived to replace parental leave. After the dissolution and suspension of work in spring 2024, the executive returns, in autumn 2025, with a non-substitutive formula: the parental leave maintained, while a new right complements the family arsenal. The chosen option seeks a compromise between effective parental time during the first year of the child. It also aims for a controlled cost for Social Security.
What the Text Provides Today
- Beneficiaries: each parent (employee, modalities to be specified for self-employed and public service agents).
- Duration: up to 2 months per parent, or 4 months total at home if both exercise their right.
- Articulation: taken at the same time or alternately, cumulative with maternity leave in France (16 weeks) and paternity leave (28 days including 3 days of birth leave 3 birth days); cumulative, with references paternity vs maternity.
- Compensation: proportional to previous salary, scales, ceilings, and targeted audiences set by decree.
- Schedule: envisaged entry into force in 2027, subject to vote and application texts.
A Budgetary Equation Under Constraint
The PLFSS 2026 is part of a trajectory of return to balance of social accounts by 2029. After a €23 billion deficit in 2025 and a target of €17.4 billion in 2026, the executive highlights the control of ONDAM and €7.1 billion in health savings (presentation figures). In this context, the creation of a compensated family right requires arbitrations on the level of compensation. It also involves defining the salary ceilings taken into account and the articulation with employer supplements.
The measure is also part of the logic of ‘demographic rearmament’, while taking into account the financial constraint: it is about increasing effective parental time without social spending overruns.
Why a New Leave?
For the head of state, the measure constitutes a ‘demographic rearmament’ in response to the decline in birth rates and aging. The argument highlights three objectives: sharing parental responsibilities, professional equality, and better solvency of parental time. Professional equality aims to reduce prolonged exits from the labor market, especially for mothers. Better solvency concerns parental time during the first year of the child. Minister Aurore Bergé has long advocated for a shorter but better compensated measure, so that it is effectively used by both parents.
What Changes Compared to the Current Parental Leave
The current parental leave remains possible until the child is 3 years old. The flat-rate allowance is €456.05 per month for interrupted activity. Specific amounts apply in case of reduced activity. It remains very little taken by fathers, mainly due to its low compensation. The future birth leave will be concentrated on the first year and aims to be short, shared, and better compensated. The exact level of compensation will be specified by a forthcoming decree. In practice, it will be a lever for intensifying post-birth parental time, without eliminating the existing long right. Parental leave remains possible, including for a second baby.
Areas to Clarify by Decree
- Parameters to specify: scales and ceilings of a proportional compensation, targeted audiences (employees, self-employed, public service agents, job seekers (parental leave for unemployed: modalities to be specified)), supporting documents (including paternity leave letter).
- Compatibility with salary maintenance of collective agreements and PreParE (Caf benefit) for parental leave.
- Partial coverage (part-time) and overlap with paternity leave.
- Threshold effects: avoid a compensation level too low discouraging modest households. A ceiling too low can disadvantage average incomes.
Usage Scenarios in Families
Simultaneity: two parents take one month each at the same time after the mother’s birth leave. This is done before the gradual return to work. Alternation: the mother takes eight weeks at the end of maternity. The second parent takes eight weeks later, at the time of nursery resumption. Fractionation: could be authorized in several periods if the decrees allow it (to be confirmed). All these scenarios assume clear information from employers, a reasonable notice period, and anti-discrimination guarantees.
Expected Effects on Gender Equality
When compensation is incentive, the measure can rebalance parental leave between genders. This allows for reducing the career gap related to maternity. Conversely, insufficient compensation or ceilings too low risk reproducing the biases of long parental leave: renunciation by modest households, overrepresentation of mothers, barriers to salary progression. The final architecture will need to secure the right to return, protect against discrimination, and coordinate with nurseries.
The Political and Parliamentary Calendar
The PLFSS 2026 begins its journey with the Council of Ministers, then it is submitted to Parliament. It is submitted to the National Assembly on October 14, 2025, followed by a passage in the Social Affairs Committee. Then, a shuttle between the Assembly and the Senate takes place, with a possible use of 49.3 for financial parts. In parallel, the application decrees will specify the compensation and modalities of taking. The entry into force in 2027 will depend on the vote and the regulatory pace.
Points of Attention for Employers
- Organization: anticipate replacements and the smoothing of absences over the first year.
- Payroll: align conventional supplements and subrogations with Social Security compensation.
- Social dialogue: prevent the risk of indirect discrimination (careers, bonuses, objectives).
- Communication: inform employees early, integrate birth leave into equality agreements, specify fractionation if decrees allow it.
- Notification: consider attaching a paternity leave letter during procedures and respecting deadlines.
For Families: Provisional User Guide
- Check eligibility (professional status, seniority, possible waiting periods).
- Plan: simultaneous or alternate choice, articulation with maternity leave/paternity leave, possible fractionation (to be confirmed by decree).
- Compare rights: birth leave versus parental leave (duration, compensation, career impacts).
- Notify the employer: attach a paternity leave letter and respect deadlines, provide required supporting documents.
- Prepare for return: adjustments, transitional telework, possible part-time.
A Debate Set to Last
The level of compensation will determine the social effectiveness of the measure. Too low, it discourages, too high, it weighs on an already strained budget. Family associations demand a right truly accessible to both parents, hospital federations warn about ONDAM, businesses fear hidden organizational costs. Parliament will arbitrate between incentive and sustainability.
The birth leave of the PLFSS 2026 aims to be a concrete tool: a short, shareable, and better compensated parental time in the first year of the child. The equation will be resolved in the decrees concerning scales, ceilings, and compatibilities, but also in Parliament. The debate will focus on demographic rearmament and the return to balance of social accounts.