How do I apply for maternity benefit?

What is maternity benefit?

Maternity benefit is awarded to an insuree due to pregnancy or care of a born child, or to another insuree due to care of a child up to three years of age, or to the father of a child due to care of their own child during the period of six weeks after the birth (see Paternity Benefit).

Am I entitled to maternity benefit?

Those entitled to maternity benefit are:

• an employee;
• a self-employed person (SEP) who is compulsorily insured for sickness;
• a voluntarily insured person (VIP);
• a person whose entitlement to pregnancy benefit arises after the end of the sickness insurance within the protection period; and

they must also be the mother of the child or other insuree who takes care of the child up to three years of age or the father of the child as the other insuree who takes care of the child during the period of six weeks after the birth. Other insurees may be:

• the father of the child
  • if the mother has died;
  • if the mother cannot take care of the child according to the child’s medical report, or must not take care of the child due to her adverse state of health lasting at least one month without receiving either maternity or parental benefit;
  • until the end of the sixth week after the childbirth date; this period shall be extended by the calendar days during which the child was admitted to the institutional care of a medical facility on the grounds of health condition of the child or their mother, if the date of admission falls within a period of six weeks after the birth date;
  • no earlier than six weeks from the birth date if the mother is not receiving maternity benefit for the same child or parental benefit for any child;
• the spouse of the child’s mother if the mother cannot take care of the child according to the child’s medical report, or must not take care of the child due to her adverse state of health lasting at least one month without receiving either maternity or parental benefit;
• the spouse of the child’s father if she is caring for a child whose mother has died;
• another person if they are caring for the child on the basis of a decision of a competent authority.

What requirements do I have to meet?

Entitlement to maternity benefit is assessed at the date when the reason for the benefit arises. That date is:

• the start of the sixth week before the expected birth date, not earlier than the start of the eighth week before the expected birth date, and if you give birth earlier, the birth date;
• the date from which you are applying for the maternity benefit if you are another insuree.

On that date, you must meet the following requirements:

• you are pregnant (applicable to a mother only);
• you are the person caring for the child;
• you are insured for sickness or you are in a protection period after the end of your insurance;
• you have at least 270 days of sickness insurance in the last two years:
  • before the childbirth if you are the mother; or
  • before the date from which you are applying for the maternity benefit if you are another insuree;
  • if you, as another insuree, have been granted paternity benefit and later claim maternity benefit in connection with the care of the same child (not earlier than 6 weeks after the birth date, if the mother no longer receives maternity benefit for the same child or parental benefit), the requirement of 270 days of sickness insurance in the last 2 years will be deemed to have been met.

The following are counted for these purposes:

• the period of any previous completed sickness insurance;
• the period of suspension of the employee’s compulsory sickness insurance due to taking parental leave; and
• the period of suspension of the SEP’s compulsory sickness insurance due to entitlement to parental benefit;
• the period of an employee’s sickness insurance during which the employee did not have an assessment basis for the payment of sickness insurance contributions on the grounds that they did not earn income is not counted; the exception are periods in which the employee did not have an assessment basis on the grounds that they were exempt from paying sickness insurance contributions (e.g. due to the duration of temporary incapacity for work).
• if you are an employee:
  • you do not have income for work performed, which is considered to be the assessment basis, for the period of maternity benefit (important is the period for which income is paid and whether it is income for work performed);
  • the payment of sickness insurance contributions by the employer is not monitored;
• if you are a SEP or a VIP and you have paid sickness insurance contributions on time and at the correct amount. This requirement does not apply to employees.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

If you are entitled to maternity benefit under more than one sickness insurance policy, you must satisfy the conditions listed below for each of them.

How do I apply for maternity benefit?

1

If you are the mother of the child, you apply for this benefit by submitting an Application for Maternity Benefit, or, if you are another insuree by an Application for Maternity Benefit for Another Insuree.

• If you are a pregnant mother, a doctor (gynaecologist) will issue the application for you. As a rule, the doctor will issue the application at the beginning of the eighth to sixth week before the expected birth date. The expected birth date will be confirmed by the doctor.
• If you are another insured person, the application form is available on the Social Insurance Agency website Application for Maternity Benefit for Another Insuree (SK), or will be provided to you by the Social Insurance Agency. Please indicate the date from which you are claiming maternity benefit or its payment on the application. Complete Part A of the application if you are applying for paternity benefit, or Part B if you are applying for maternity benefit as another insuree.
• If you apply for paternity benefit and then for maternity benefit, you always need to submit a new application.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: If you are entitled to maternity benefit from more than one sickness insurances (e.g. as an employee and as a SEP), you must submit a separate application for each one of them.

2

Fill in and sign the Insuree Declaration

on the second page of the form

3

If you are an employee, submit the application to the employer

who will fill in and sign the employer’s confirmation.

4

If you are another insuree

• applying for maternity benefit because the mother cannot take care of the child for medical reasons, attach the medical opinion to the application;
• to whom the period of six weeks after childbirth should be extended by the calendar days during which the child was admitted to the institutional care of a medical facility on the grounds of health condition of the child or their mother, if the date of admission falls within a period of six weeks after the birth date; attach the confirmation of hospitalisation of the child or the mother and child (medical report/medical certificate) to the application;
• whose entitlement to maternity benefit is conditional on the child’s mother not receiving parental benefit, the proof that the child’s mother does not receive parental benefits in Slovakia will be secured by the Social Insurance Agency branch.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: The mother must ask the competent labour office (Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family) to withdraw the parental benefit.

5

Send your application to the Social Insurance Agency branch

relevant according to:

• the employer’s registered office if you are an employee;
• your last employer’s registered office if you are an employee within the protection period;
• your place of permanent residence if you are an SEP or a VIP.

Contacts – branches

 

 

USEFUL TIP:

We recommend that you submit the application for maternity benefit as soon as the application has been issued by the doctor or completed it.

Fathers can divide maternity benefit into paternity and maternity benefit: How I apply for paternity benefit.

For more information, please see SICKNESS INSURANCE – MATERNITY BENEFIT (SK).