Digital Iceland
Digital application for paid parental leave
2nd June 2022
A new digital application for paid parental leave is now open and expecting parents who are in paid employment can apply for maternity leave in a simple, digital and user-friendly manner.
There has been a great demand to simplify the application process for paid parental leave, make it more automatic, and provide services that meet the needs of users.
Digital Iceland and the Directorate of Labour have collaborated in developing a digital application for parental leave.
The Directorate of Labour oversees the administration of paid parental leaves and, with digitalisation of applications, it is now possible to apply for paid parental leave through the website of the Directorate of Labour or Ísland.is after identifying oneself with electronic documents. Parents-to-be can now fill in their application for paid parental leave and anything related to it in digital form, such as the arrangements and the division of maternity/paternity leave. This is a major advance for service users and is without a doubt going to be of great use to all those who access these important services.
Unnur Sverrisdóttir, director of the Directorate of Labour welcomes this step and says that digital applications is a major step towards digital administration. "The application process is much simpler and, for example, the process automatically retrieves the data that must accompany the application and automatically sends it on to the spouse and employer for approval. This is of great benefit to all those who attend these services. A digital application for paid parental leave is one part of the digital journey we are on.'
The digital application for paid parental leave has played a key role in the development of Ísland.is application system and removed obstacles that will be of use to all institutions that wish to use the system. The application was quietly aired on Ísland.is at the beginning of the year and on the website of the Directorate of Labour. Clearly, demand was high, for in the last month, the proportion of digital applications rose over 50%, despite the service not being introduced specifically. The total number of applications submitted in May was 576, including 311 digital ones. The digital application represents vast time savings for individuals who no longer need to gather information and send it to the fund, but automatically retrieves the information needed and submits it to the fund's inner work system.
About 14 thousand people apply for paid parental leave every year and it is clear that they save a lot of time for individuals, employers, and employees of the Parental Leave Fund not to mention the paper savings. Future parents can now apply through the digital application and can follow up on the status of their applications in the Ísland.is app and on My pages in Ísland.is.
Parents in the labour market and self-employed can apply without papers, save time in gathering data and keep the status of applications in simple order. A digital application for paid parental leave will continue in development so that it can be accessible for all who wish to exercise their right to their paid parental leave.