Chaos in Social Security to receive payments for maternity and paternity leave: delays of up to six months

"My daughter was born in May and they didn't pay my partner until September" : this is the voice of one of the many affected by the collapse in Social Security, which already adds up to several months' delays in maternity leave payments and fatherhood.

The pandemic has ended up collapsing a system that was already living with delays, although in the last year the cases of affected mothers and fathers who take longer than expected to receive aid for the care of a newborn have skyrocketed .

This aid, which in 2021 has been equalized for both fathers and mothers up to four months -16 weeks-, is requested through the Social Security website, where it is enough to fill in some information and attach the usual documentation to receive the number of file. The processing of the file will take the longest, with up to six months in some cases and little information from Social Security.

This is how many parents denounce it, including Mateo, who did not receive help until three months after the birth of his son From him. On the other hand, Laura's partner has not received any news from Social Security since August 25 : "My son was born in March and my partner is still waiting for help from the second part of the leave since August 25. The same status appears on the web since then and there is no news.

The version of Social Security: "collapse" and waiting for "two months minimum"

Precisely, the Social Security website does not help those affected too much either: the status of the process is immovable over the months , while by telephone only "more time" is requested to resolve each case.

Thus, from Social Security they insist that the pandemic has aggravated the situation and summon those affected to wait longer for new information. "Once you have the file number, all you have to do is wait. Now there are waits of at least two months to resolve a file," assures the Social Security staff consulted by ondacero.es.

More delays when applying for aid in successive periods

The case goes to another dimension if paternity or maternity leave is requested in successive periods. And it is that Social Security offers the possibility of requesting aid in several periods , having to request by law the first six consecutive weeks after the birth of the minor. Parents can choose the subsequent periods in which they request the withdrawal and each of them requires a new procedure.

In many of these cases, many parents perceive the aid in the first period without problems, while, once they reach the second period of sick leave, the months continue to pass without news from Social Security: "They tell me that it will take longer to collect the second part, that there is a significant delay at this time of the year," says another parent who has been affected since the beginning of October.

"You call on the phone and they don't give you any information, they tell you that they will notify you and that there are delays. They don't even say if there is something wrong or something is missing, nothing at all, only that they will tell you something. It's amazing," says María, whose The couple asked to be discharged in this modality and have been waiting since September 23 to receive help.

The situation has pushed some families to the economic limit who cannot cope with the arrival of their baby . Some affected have been forced to ask their relatives for money, while others have dipped into savings while waiting for Social Security to pay a payment that has not yet arrived and has many families in suspense.