Parental allowance

This benefit may be claimed by:

• the parent of a child;
• an individual in whose non-parental care a child is placed by a court or by an office of Labour, social affairs and family; or
• the spouse of the parent of a child, if this spouse shares a household with the child’s parent.

A claimant is entitled to a parental allowance if he or she:

• ensures the due care of a child (personally or through another adult individual or a legal entity); and
• is permanently or temporarily resident in Slovakia or is a person defined by a special regulation.

Only one beneficiary, designated by agreement of the people caring for the child, is entitled to the parental allowance. This also applies if a court places a minor child in the alternating custody of both parents, or if it approves an agreement reached between the parents.

If, within a family, there is more than one child:

• up to 3 years of age; or
• up to 6 years of age if a child has a chronic medical condition;

only one parental allowance may be claimed and only one agreed beneficiary may be designated.

A parental allowance cannot be claimed if:

• the claimant and the child are staying in a country which is not a Member State of the European Union, a party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, or the Swiss Confederation (a ‘Member State’), and the claimant does not have public health insurance cover in Slovakia during his or her stay in that country;
• at least one of the beneficiaries is entitled to a maternity allowance or a benefit similar to maternity allowance in a Member State, and the amount of the maternity allowance or the similar benefit in that Member State for the calendar month as a whole is higher than the parental allowance;
• a country which is not a Member State pays a benefit similar to the parental allowance or a benefit similar to the maternity allowance.

A parental allowance cannot be claimed by a minor parent who has not been granted parental responsibility under a special regulation.

A parental allowance cannot be granted if the claimant is the parent of another child:

• a) who has been placed in the other parent’s custody, in replacement care, in foster care, in the care of an individual appointed by a court that has ordered an interim measure, in the care of future adoptive parents, or in the custody of a guardian; and
• b) a parental allowance has been granted to ensure the due care of that child.

Claimants claim the parental allowance by submitting a written application or an electronic application containing their advanced electronic signature to the local office of Labour, social affairs and family where they are permanently or temporarily resident (only for non-nationals).

An application for the parental allowance contains the given name, surname, date of birth, personal identification number, if assigned, and the address of the claimant looking after the child for whom the parental allowance is being claimed. At the payer’s request, the claimant provides other details necessary for the claim to the parental allowance to proceed.

If a child has been born outside Slovakia and has not been issued with a birth certificate under a special regulation at the time the application for the parental allowance is made, an official translation of the child’s birth certificate or other similar proof of the child’s birth issued in the country of birth is attached to the written application by the claimant.

At the payer’s request, the claimant provides other details necessary for the claim to the parental allowance to proceed. The payer may process personal data only for the purposes of the parental allowance.

Application forms are available at offices of Labour, social affairs and family. Alternatively, you can print one here.

The applicant’s entitlement to a parental allowance is assessed by the competent office of Labour, social affairs and family in accordance with Act No 71/1967 on administrative proceedings, except for Sections 18(3), 33(2), 60 and 61 to 68 of this general regulation on administrative proceedings.

No written decision is issued to confirm the granting of, an increase in, or the loss of entitlement to the parental allowance.

An appeal against a decision to suspend payment of the parental allowance or to withdraw or reduce the parental allowance has no suspensory effect.

The parental allowance in 2020 is:

• a) EUR 270 per month;
• b) EUR 370 per month, if the beneficiary who applied for the parental allowance was paid a maternity allowance or a benefit similar to maternity allowance in a Member State for looking after the child in question before the claim to the parental allowance arose.

If the beneficiary duly cares for two or more children born at the same time, the parental allowance is increased by 25% for each child born at the same time. If the beneficiary neglects the compulsory education of another child in his or her care for at least 3 consecutive calendar months, the parental allowance is reduced by 50%. This amount is provided for at least 3 calendar months from the first day of the calendar month following the month in which the school notifies the office of Labour, social affairs and family that the beneficiary is neglecting the compulsory education of another child in his or her care. If, for an entire calendar month, the beneficiary is paid a maternity allowance or similar benefit in a Member State that is lower than the parental allowance, during the time that the maternity allowance or similar benefit in the Member State is paid, the parental allowance is set as the difference between the amount of the parental allowance and the amount of the maternity allowance or similar benefit in the Member State.

A benefit similar to maternity allowance that is paid in a Member State in a foreign currency is translated into euros, rounded down to the nearest euro cent, at the reference exchange rate set and published by the European Central Bank or the National Bank of Slovakia on the first day of the month for which the beneficiary claims the parental allowance. The amounts of the parental allowance applicable on 31 December are adjusted from 1 January by the coefficient adjusting the minimum subsistence level in accordance with a special regulation and are rounded to the nearest ten euro cents. The amounts of the parental allowance are set annually by a measure issued by the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic, which publishes the full text in the Collection of Legislative Acts of the Slovak Republic by 31 December.

Beneficiaries are granted and paid the parental allowance by the local office of Labour, social affairs and family where they are permanently or temporarily resident.

Rules for payment:

• the allowance is paid for the whole calendar month, even if the beneficiary qualifies for the allowance for only part of the calendar month;
• the allowance is paid monthly in arrears, by the end of the calendar month following each calendar month in which the claimant qualifies for the allowance;
• it is paid into the beneficiary’s account at a bank or at a branch of a foreign bank in Slovakia. Alternatively, at the beneficiary’s request, the allowance is paid in cash;
• if the beneficiary makes a written request for a change in the way that the parental allowance is paid, the office of Labour, social affairs and family is obliged to comply with that request;
• the allowance is not paid to a non-Member State.

Payment of the parental allowance is suspended as of the calendar month following the calendar month for which the allowance has already been paid if:

• there are grounds to investigate whether the beneficiary continues to qualify for the allowance, whether the parental allowance is being paid in the correct amount, or whether the payer in Slovakia remains responsible for paying the parental allowance; or
• an institution in another Member State is responsible for providing the parental allowance.

The office of Labour, social affairs and family:

resumes payment if the beneficiary proves that the reasons for which his or her payment has been suspended no longer exist. Payment is resumed as of the calendar month following the calendar month in which the reasons for suspension ceased to exist;

pays the balance of the allowance for the period during which payment was suspended, provided that the conditions of eligibility for the parental allowance and for payment thereof were met during this period;

resumes payment of the allowance if the competent institution of another Member State has decided not to provide a parental allowance or to provide a parental allowance in an amount lower than EUR 203.20. Payment is resumed as of the calendar month following the calendar month in which the beneficiary proves this fact to the payer;

pays the balance of the allowance for the period during which payment was suspended, or for part thereof, provided that the conditions of eligibility for the allowance and for payment thereof were met during this period and the beneficiary claimed an allowance in another Member State, but it was not granted;

issues a decision appointing an alternative recipient of the parental allowance if:

• a) the parental allowance is paid to a beneficiary who receives a hardship benefit and supplementary allowances, and these are arranged by an alternative recipient;
• b) the child allowance for a child in the beneficiary’s care is arranged by an alternative recipient because the beneficiary has not used the child allowance for the purpose for which it is intended; or
• c) the beneficiary so requests.

The alternative recipient is the municipality in which the beneficiary resides or, where justified, another person. The alternative recipient ensures that the parental allowance is used properly. The payer stops using the alternative recipient when the reasons for this pass or at the request of the beneficiary, if the alternative recipient was appointed at the beneficiary’s request.

If the parental allowance is increased or reduced for certain reasons, it is paid at the new amount as of the calendar month in which the change occurred.

If the reasons why payment of the parental allowance was reduced to 50 % cease to exist, the allowance is increased as of the calendar month following the month in which the child begins compulsory education, but no earlier than 3 months following the month in which the allowance was reduced.

The parental allowance is withdrawn as of the calendar month following a month for which the parental allowance has been paid:

• if the facts determining that there was a valid claim to the parental allowance change or cease to exist;
• if the parental allowance has been unduly paid;
• if the beneficiary so requests;
• if the parental allowance is provided by a competent institution of a Member State in the same amount or in an amount greater than EUR 199.60;
• if the competent institution of a Member State does not grant the parental allowance on the grounds that the person entitled to it has not claimed it.

If the parental allowance was unduly paid or paid in an amount higher than that to which the beneficiary was entitled:

• the beneficiary must repay the parental allowance or part thereof for the period for which it was unduly or excessively paid;
• the right to the refund of the parental allowance expires 1 year after the day on which the payer discovers this fact, but no later than 3 years from the date of the last undue payment of the parental allowance;
• the amount to be repaid may be deducted from the beneficiary’s currently paid parental allowance or a subsequently granted parental allowance, from his or her wages, salary, or other remuneration for work, from compensation in lieu of such consideration, from compensation for on-call duty or other stand-by duty, from the supplement for stand-by duty, from social insurance benefits, from annuities from old‐ age pension saving schemes, and from social security benefits up to the amount which cannot be affected by the enforcement of a decision under a special regulation. The parental allowance cannot be affected by the enforcement of a decision under a special regulation, except for the enforcement of a decision on a fine under a special regulation.

A beneficiary is required to prove facts relevant to the entitlement to, and the amount and payment of, the parental allowance, and to report these facts to the competent office of Labour, social affairs and family in writing within 8 days. The 8-day time limit begins on the first day following the day on which the change occurs.