Enhanced paternity leave and new shared parental leave scheme from 1 April 2025

27 September 2024

The Singapore Government will be enhancing paid parental leave to provide stronger caregiving support for parents during their child’s infancy stage. This was announced by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong at the 2024 National Day Rally.

Eligible working parents with Singapore Citizen (“SC”) children born on or after 1 April 2025 will benefit from (i) enhancements to the existing Government-Paid Paternity Leave (“GPPL”), and (ii) a new Shared Parental Leave (“SPL”) scheme.

Mandatory four weeks of GPPL

From 1 April 2025, eligible working fathers with SC children born on or after 1 April 2025 will be entitled to four weeks of GPPL. Currently, eligible working fathers are entitled to two weeks of GPPL and may take an additional two weeks of GPPL if permitted by their employers.

New SPL scheme

Under the current SPL scheme, a working mother can share up to four weeks of her 16 weeks of Government-Paid Maternity Leave (“GPML”) with her husband. The current SPL scheme will cease from 1 April 2025 and be replaced with a new SPL scheme which comprises 10 weeks of paid parental leave, shared between both parents. The new SPL scheme will be implemented in two phases from 1 April 2025:

  • Phase 1: Eligible working parents of SC children born on or after 1 April 2025 will be entitled to six weeks of SPL.
  • Phase 2: Eligible working parents of SC children born on or after 1 April 2026 will be entitled to 10 weeks of SPL.

The new SPL scheme is provided on top of GPML and GPPL entitlements.

The key features of the new SPL scheme are as follows:

  • The SPL should be consumed within the first 12 months of the child’s birth. Parents and their employers should come to a mutual agreement on the leave arrangement. In the absence of a mutual agreement, parents can take SPL in a continuous block (after GPML or GPPL) within the first 26 weeks of the child’s birth.
  • As a default arrangement, the SPL will be equally distributed between the two parents (i.e. three weeks per parent for babies born between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026, five weeks per parent for babies born from 1 April 2026). Parents may reallocate their SPL to each other according to their needs. Changes to the leave sharing arrangements should be made within four weeks of the child’s birth. Any changes thereafter will require the mutual agreement of the parents and their employers.
  • All 10 weeks of SPL will be paid by the Government, up to the prevailing cap of S$2,500 per week (approximately S$10,000 a month).

New minimum notice period before consuming parental leave

To help employers better adjust their operations, the Government will introduce a new minimum notice period of four weeks which employees will be required to serve before consuming leave under any of the parental leave schemes. Notwithstanding the minimum notice period, parents should inform their employers as early as possible when they are expecting a child.

Summary of parental leave schemes for eligible working parents

The table below summarises the parental leave schemes:

Parental Leave Scheme

Current
(Up to 31 March 2025)

New
(from 1 April 2025)

New
(from 1 April 2026)

SPL
  • Mothers may share up to four weeks of the GPML with their husbands
  • Six weeks of SPL shared between both parents
  • Each parent to be allocated three weeks as a default
  • Parents can change this sharing arrangement within four weeks after child’s birth
  • 10 weeks of SPL shared between both parents
  • Each parent to be allocated five weeks as a default
  • Parents can change this sharing arrangement within four weeks after child’s birth

GPPL
  • Two weeks mandatory GPPL
  • Two weeks additional GPPL, if employers are ready to offer
  • Four weeks mandatory GPPL (new)
  • Four weeks mandatory GPPL (unchanged)

GPML
  • 16 weeks

·         16 weeks (unchanged)

·         16 weeks (unchanged)

(Source: National Population and Talent Division website)

Reference materials

The following materials are available on the National Population and Talent Division website www.population.gov.sg, Make for Families website www.madeforfamilies.gov.sg, and Ministry of Social and Family Development www.msf.gov.sg: