Family and consumer policies changing on 1 July

No.:  06034
Date:  28 June 2006
Contact: Information secretariat  +47 22 24 24 07

 

Several legislative changes affecting the Ministry of Children and Equality are due to take effect on 1 July. Among them is an extension of the paid parental leave period reserved for fathers after a birth or adoption – the “father quota”. There will also be changes in the way child maintenance obligations are calculated and in the official subsistence rate levels used in the Debt Settlement Act. Consumers, for their part, will be able to protect their rights more effectively when purchasing financial services by electronic or other “remote” means.

 

Father quota
The father’s portion of paid parental leave time will increase from five weeks to six weeks for children born after 1 July 2006. The increase represents an extension of the period after birth during which mothers and fathers are eligible to receive benefits. This period will now total 44 weeks with full salary compensation or 54 weeks with 80% salary compensation. In the case of adoptions, the benefit period will now total 41 weeks at full salary compensation or 51 weeks at 80%.

 

With this extension, the father’s quota becomes equal in length to the period of time mothers are required to take free after birth. The extension applies only to fathers who have a right to paid leave. The additional week’s leave will go to the mother if the father does not qualify for birth or adoption benefits, if the mother is a sole provider or if an exception to the father-quota rules is granted.

 

Reporting duty for crisis centres
A change in the Child Welfare Act requires private crisis centres to report suspected cases of seriously deficient child care to the child welfare services.

 

Women who seek refuge in a crisis centre sometimes move back to the person who abused them. In such cases the children are returned to a situation in which they may be subjected to violence and abuse, whether directly or as a witness. The new reporting requirement comes into play if the crisis centre has reason to fear that a child may be exposed to seriously deficient care. Crisis centre employees in many cases are the only people aware of conditions in the home. Only they may know if the situation is so serious that the involvement of child welfare services is necessary to guarantee sufficient help and care for the children. This new reporting responsibility matches that of other organizations and private individuals performing services in the public sector.

 

Reporting duty for the schools
Starting 1 July all primary schools will be required to inform the social security office when pupils are absent due to what appears to be a stay abroad.

 

In general, both the universal family allowance for children and cash benefits for families with small children are payable only for children resident in Norway. Recipients of the family allowance have an obligation to inform the social security office when a child stays abroad for longer than a typical vacation period. The fact that schools must now report such absences does not exempt benefit recipients from their own duty to inform the social security office.

 

Adjusting child maintenance
The basis for calculating child maintenance payments is adjusted annually on 1 July. The individual rates and rate charts used in calculating maintenance payments are adjusted according to updated statistics and indexing, and are minor in scale.

 

The most significant change this year is to official estimates of the monthly cost of supporting a child. The adjustments reflect such factors as a consumer price hike recorded by the Norwegian Institute for Consumer Research and an update in the selection of goods used to calculate a child's consumer needs. According to these measures, costs have risen for children of all age groups. For children under 6 years of age, the increase is NOK 180/month; for those between 6 and 10, the increase is NOK 280/month; and for those over 10, it is NOK 290/month. At the same time, the official rate for living expenses has been reduced by NOK 290 kroner/month for children of all age groups.

 

All fixed (running) child maintenance rates will also be indexed by 1.8% from 1 July unless another figure has been agreed upon or imposed.

 

Cooling-off period for "SMS loans"
Starting 1 July, all consumers who have purchased financial services by way of e-mail, telephone, SMS, door-to-door sales or trade shows must be sent a special form enabling them to cancel the purchase retroactively.

 

Consumers have a right to change their mind within 14 days after agreeing by remote means to take out a loan or purchase some other financial service. Experience has shown many people are unaware of this “right of regret”, or angrerett. The seller’s new legal requirement to send customers a “right of regret” form along with the financial terms of agreement will help inform or remind consumers of their rights.

 

Debt Settlement Act
The suggested subsistence rate levels used in debt settlement cases are adjusted yearly to match the change in the National Insurance Scheme's basic pension amount. On 1 May 2006 the basic pension amount increased by 3.5%. The suggested subsistence rate levels for adults engaged in debt settlement will thus rise by that amount on 1 July. The rate levels for children will rise by about 1%.

 

New rates from 1 July 2006

(previous rates in parentheses)

 

Adults 2006 (2005)
Single 7 989 (7 710)
Married/unmarried couples, joint 14 642 (14 132)
Married/unmarried couples, individual 7 321 (7 066)

 

Child for whom debtor provides daily care 2006 (2005)
0 – 5 years old 1 780 (1 760)
6 – 10 years old 2 300 (2 275)
11 years old and over 2 920 (2 890)