From January 1, 2025, if female employees take maternity leave and childbirth leave during their employment and their employers legally provide them with maternity leave and maternity benefits along with paying social insurance premiums, they can apply for maternity social insurance subsidy. The subsidy standard is 50% of the actual premiums paid by the employer for the female employee’s basic endowment insurance, basic medical insurance (including maternity insurance), unemployment insurance, and work-related injury insurance during the maternity leave and childbirth leave period. The subsidy will be issued for 6 months starting from the month of the female employee’s childbirth.

The new regulation clarifies that the maternity social insurance subsidy follows the principle of "local management, payment first, then subsidy", and adopts the method of "one-time application, bundled distribution". Employers can apply to the local human resources and social security department within one year after the end of the female employee’s maternity leave and childbirth leave for the subsidy. After the application is approved, the subsidy will be issued in a lump sum for 6 months. Currently, the human resources and social security department is accelerating the development of an online handling system to facilitate employers to apply for the subsidy conveniently and efficiently. Employers can apply for the subsidy online starting from the end of August.