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The PLFSS 2026, presented to 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 bill was filed immediately afterwards in the Assembly. Entry into force targeted in 2027, with compensation proportional to salary, specified by decree. Stated objective: demographic rearmament, while controlling ONDAM and a Social Security deficit reduced to €17.4 billion in 2026.
Key Facts
The Projet de loi de financement de la Sécurité sociale 2026 (PLFSS 2026) reintroduces, in its version presented to the Council of Ministers on October 14, 2025 and filed in the National Assembly 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 congé maternité en France (16 semaines) and, for the first instance, congés paternité (28 jours dont 3 jours de congé naissance 3 jours (jours de naissance)). Compensation will be proportional to prior salary, its scales, ceilings and eligible groups will be set by decree. Entry into force planned in 2027, subject to the vote, within a constrained budgetary framework (control of ONDAM and trajectory for return to balance in 2029). Moreover, congé maternité (definition: compensated leave before/after birth) serves as a reference, as does paternité vs maternité for coordinating rights.
A Political Promise Turned Legislative Framework
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 returned in autumn 2025 with a non-replacement formula: parental leave maintained, while a new right complements the family toolkit. The chosen option seeks a compromise between actual parental time during the child’s first year. 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 civil servants).
- Duration: up to 2 months per parent, i.e. 4 months combined at home if both exercise their right.
- Coordination: taken at the same time or in turn, cumulative with congé maternité en France (16 semaines) and congé paternité (28 jours dont 3 jours de congé naissance 3 jours naissance); cumulative, with references paternité vs maternité.
- Compensation: proportional to prior salary, scales, ceilings and eligible groups set by decree.
- Timeline: entry into force planned in 2027, subject to the vote and implementing texts.
A Budget Equation Under Constraint
The PLFSS 2026 fits into 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 control of ONDAM and €7.1 billion in health savings (presentation figures). In this context, creating a compensated family right requires trade-offs on the level of compensation. It also involves defining the salary ceilings taken into account and coordination with employer supplements.
The measure also fits the logic of ‘demographic rearmament’, while taking financial constraints into account: it aims to increase actual parental time without social spending overruns.
Why a New Leave?
For the head of state, the measure constitutes a ‘demographic rearmament’ in response to declining birth rates and aging. The rationale highlights three objectives: sharing parental responsibilities, professional equality, and better compensation for parental time. Professional equality aims to reduce prolonged exits from the labor market, especially by mothers. Better compensation concerns parental time during the child’s first year. Minister Aurore Bergé has long advocated a shorter but better compensated arrangement so it is actually used by both parents.
What Changes Compared to Current Parental Leave
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 rarely taken by fathers, notably due to its low compensation. The future birth leave will be focused on the first year and is intended to be short, shared, and better compensated. The exact level of compensation will be specified by a forthcoming decree. In practice, it will serve as a lever to intensify post-birth parental time, without removing the existing long right. Parental leave remains possible, including for a second child.
Areas To Be Clarified By Decree
- Parameters to specify: scales and ceilings of a proportional compensation, eligible groups (employees, self-employed, civil servants, jobseekers (parental leave for unemployed: modalities to be specified)), supporting documents (including a paternity leave letter).
- Compatibility with salary maintenance from collective agreements and PreParE (Caf benefit) for parental leave.
- Partial coverage (part-time) and overlap with paternity leave.
- Threshold effects: avoid a compensation level that is too low and discourages low-income households. A ceiling that is too low can disadvantage middle incomes.
Use Scenarios In Families
Simultaneity: both parents take one month each at the same time after the mother’s birth leave. This occurs before progressively returning to work. Alternation: the mother takes eight weeks after maternity. The second parent takes eight weeks later, at the time of daycare resumption. Splitting: could be allowed into multiple periods if decrees permit (to be confirmed). All these scenarios assume clear information for employers, reasonable notice, and anti-discrimination guarantees.
Expected Effects On Gender Equality
When compensation is incentive-based, the measure can rebalance parental leave between sexes. This helps reduce the career gap linked to maternity. Conversely, insufficient compensation or too low ceilings risk reproducing the biases of long parental leave: low-income households abstaining, overrepresentation of mothers, barriers to wage progression. The final architecture will need to secure the right to return, protect against discrimination, and coordinate with daycare.
Political And Parliamentary Timeline
The PLFSS 2026 begins its course at the Council of Ministers, then it is filed with Parliament. It was filed in the National Assembly on October 14, 2025, followed by review in the Social Affairs Committee. Then a shuttle between the Assembly and the Senate takes place, with possible recourse to 49.3 for financial parts. In parallel, implementing decrees will specify compensation and modalities of taking leave. Entry into force in 2027 will depend on the vote and the regulatory pace.
Employer Considerations
- Organization: anticipate replacements and smoothing absences over the first year.
- Payroll: align collective agreement 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 splitting if decrees allow it.
- Notification: consider attaching a paternity leave letter during procedures and respect deadlines.
For Families: Provisional How-To
- Check eligibility (professional status, seniority, possible waiting periods).
- Plan: simultaneous or alternating choice, coordination with congé maternité/congé paternité, possible splitting (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 the return: adjustments, telework transition, possible part-time.
A Debate Likely 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 truly accessible right for both parents, hospital federations warn about ONDAM, businesses fear hidden organizational costs. Parliament will arbitrate between incentive and sustainability.
The PLFSS 2026 birth leave is intended as a concrete tool: a short, shareable, and better compensated parental time in the child’s first year. The equation will be resolved in decrees on scales, ceilings, and compatibilities, but also in Parliament. The debate will focus on demographic rearmament and the return to balance of social accounts.