Maternity allowance: eligibility, calculation and claiming it

Service page: Employment lawyer: dismissals, wages and severance pay.

You have given birth. Congratulations. Now, before you sink into diapers and sleepless nights, there is one step you should not miss: filing a claim for maternity allowance with Bituach Leumi. The money does not always arrive by itself. For an employee, the employer has to send Form 100 to the Institute electronically, and only then is the allowance paid automatically.

Who is eligible for maternity allowance?

To be eligible for full maternity allowance (15 weeks), insurance contributions must have been paid for you for 10 of the 14 months before the day you stopped working, or for 15 of the 22 months before that day. This applies to employees and to self-employed women alike. If contributions were paid for only 6 of the 14 months, you are due a partial allowance of 8 weeks (National Insurance Law, section 50(a)).

A few points worth knowing:

Certain periods count. The following count as periods for which contributions were paid: a period for which you received a pregnancy-protection benefit, maternity allowance, unemployment benefit or work-injury benefit; a period for which you were paid sick pay or payment in lieu of vacation through a provident fund; and the first two months of unpaid leave (National Insurance Law, section 50(b)).

Self-employed women: the same threshold conditions. A self-employed woman is entitled if she paid contributions for 10 of the 14 months, or for 15 of the 22 months, before the day she stopped working.

Adoptive mothers and intended mothers in surrogacy. They are also entitled to a maternity benefit, with conditions adjusted to the child’s age and the date the child was received.

How much maternity allowance does the National Insurance Institute pay?

The allowance is paid for 15 weeks (105 days). The daily amount is your regular wage: your income in the quarter before the day you stopped working, divided by 90. If you are an employee, it can instead be your income in the six months before that day, divided by 180, whichever is higher. The daily amount is capped at five times the basic amount, divided by 30 (National Insurance Law, sections 53(a) and 54(a)). The basic amount is updated from time to time.

In practice: if your monthly wage was NIS 12,000, your average daily wage will be calculated at about NIS 400. Multiplied by 105 days, that is about NIS 42,000 gross. The Institute deducts income tax and insurance contributions from it (section 53(d)).

If your wage is above the cap, you receive the cap, not more. From 1 January 2026 the cap is NIS 1,752.33 a day, according to the National Insurance Institute’s publication. If your wage is low, you receive an amount based on your actual wage, with no top-up.

How do you file a claim for maternity allowance with Bituach Leumi?

If you are an employee, the National Insurance Institute’s instructions say to ask your employer to send Form 100 to the Institute electronically. Then the maternity allowance is paid automatically, without a claim. A self-employed woman who gave birth in a hospital receives the allowance after the hospital sends the birth details to the Institute. When payment does not happen by itself, file a claim with Bituach Leumi, online or at a branch. This happens, for example, when the employer did not send the details, or when the birth was at home or abroad.

Make sure your bank account details at the Institute are up to date, because approved maternity allowance is paid in one payment to your bank account.

When to file: a claim for a benefit must be filed within 12 months from the day the cause of action arose. A later claim is paid only for a period of up to 12 months before the month in which it was filed (National Insurance Law, section 296).

If the claim is approved, the allowance is transferred in one payment to your bank account.

What happens if the employer does not cooperate?

Some employers “forget” to provide the required confirmations, or delay the wage documents. This is a problem, but not a dead end.

You can contact Bituach Leumi and ask it to contact the employer directly. If the employer keeps delaying, you can file a complaint with the Regulation and Enforcement Administration at the Ministry of Labor. You can also sue in the Labor Court for damage caused by the delay. An employer who delays documents with malice could be ordered to pay compensation.

In addition: a pregnant employee who has worked for the employer for at least six months can be dismissed only with a permit from the Minister of Labor. The permit will not be given if the dismissal is related to the pregnancy (section 9(a) of the Women’s Employment Law, 5714-1954). During the birth and parenting period, dismissal is completely prohibited. In the sixty days after it, dismissal is allowed only with a permit and in exceptional circumstances (section 9(c)).

Maternity benefit for self-employed women: what is different?

A self-employed woman who pays National Insurance contributions at the minimum rate (reduced insurance) is entitled to the benefit, but the amount will be lower. If you pay contributions according to your real income, you will receive an amount based on it.

A common problem: self-employed women who reported a low income to pay less to Bituach Leumi find that their maternity benefit is low accordingly. This is correct, and it is legal. The benefit is calculated on the income that was the basis for the contributions in the quarter before the day she stopped working, or in a quarter of the year before the year in which she stopped working, whichever is higher (National Insurance Law, section 54(b)(2)).

Can the father receive maternity allowance?

Yes, under certain conditions. From the seventh week of maternity leave, the mother can transfer part of the leave to the father (an employee, and on the same conditions also a self-employed father: section 49(b) of the National Insurance Law). The father goes on maternity leave, and Bituach Leumi pays him the maternity allowance, based on his own wage.

This is not automatic. The mother must return to work during the period the father is on leave, and the two cannot be on maternity leave at the same time, except for one week. The father may take a birth and parenting period of seven days at the same time as the mother, if she waived in writing the maternity allowance for the last week (section 6(h)(1b) of the Women’s Employment Law).