Handling Maternity/Pre-Maternity Allowance and Child Allowance

Presidential Decree No. 95/26, of May 22, establishes the new Legal Regime for Family Benefits under Mandatory Social Protection, in Angola, revoking Presidential Decree No. 8/11, of January 7.

This change was based on a review of social policies, adapting the mechanisms for supporting families to the evolution of the cost of living and strengthening the protection of beneficiaries of the contributory system, particularly in maternity situations and increased family expenses.

The new regime is structured around three main benefits:

Maternity and pre-maternity allowance;
Child allowance;
Nursing allowance.

The first two are paid by employers to their eligible employees.

Child Allowance

We recommend consulting the support article to learn how to configure the child allowance earnings item.

Note that the child allowance is a specific earnings item intended to offset the increased family expenses resulting from the education of the children of the covered employees and pensioners.

Maternity and Pre-Maternity Allowance

Presidential Decree No. 95/26, of May 22, did not change the maternity leave regime set out in the General Labor Law (LGT); the employee's right to a 3-month maternity leave remains unchanged, which can start up to 4 weeks before the expected delivery date, with the remaining period to be taken after the birth. In the case of multiple births, the post-birth period of the leave is extended by an additional 4 weeks. The option of a pre-maternity leave, certified by a medical expert, with a maximum duration of 180 days, also remains available.

The changes made by this decree relate to the maternity allowance owed during the period away from work, under Mandatory Social Protection. In other words, the conditions for granting and maintaining the allowance in exceptional situations were clarified, ensuring greater precision and consistency in applying the regime:

If the birth occurs on a date later than the one anticipated at the start of the leave, the leave is extended to ensure 9 full weeks after the birth;
Granting an allowance corresponding to a period of one month in the case of miscarriage or stillbirth;
The termination of the allowance in the event of the newborn's death, as of the return to work.

The qualifying period for accessing the maternity allowance is 12 months, with contributions paid consecutively or intermittently over the last 36 months. The maternity allowance corresponds to 3 times the average of the last 12 declared earnings before the start of the leave, excluding amounts relating to vacation, Christmas, or other non-regular allowances. For pre-maternity leave, the amount corresponds to 60% of the maternity allowance.

Payment

Employees: payment of the maternity and pre-maternity allowance is the employer's responsibility, within a maximum period of 30 days from the start of each leave, via bank transfer, and is subsequently reimbursed by the social protection management entity.
Self-employed or unemployed workers: payment is made directly by the social protection management entity. In the event of the mother's incapacity or death, when entitled to the maternity allowance, it is granted to the father.

Configuration in the ERP

These earnings items will be calculated through extended leaves, with the following configuration:

Step 1: Create Earnings Items

You must create two earnings items to handle the Pre-Maternity Allowance and the Maternity Allowance, with the following configuration:

On the General tab: for the formula, choose Average earnings from the last months and fill in the remaining data as done for other earnings items;
On the Average Earnings tab:
- specify 12 months for the average;
- choose Processed Amount for the value;
- specify the earnings items to use in calculating the monthly average.

Note: in Administrator | Parameters of the Fiscal Year | General, the Months not to consider field must be filled in with 0, for the average earnings before the date of the occurrence.

Step 2: Create Leave Types

You must create two leave types to handle the Pre-Maternity Allowance and the Maternity Allowance, with the following configuration:

On the General tab: choose type Parental Leave and fill in the remaining data as done for other leaves;
On the Parenting Data tab, you must specify:
- The earnings item used to pay the allowance (maternity or pre-maternity allowance);
- The maximum number of days for paying the allowance (90 days for the maternity allowance, or 180 days for the pre-maternity allowance);
- The percentage to apply to the amount, which will be 100% for the maternity allowance and 60% for the pre-maternity allowance.

Use case scenario

1. Set the reference period

The number of months of earnings that will be used as the basis for the calculation is specified here.

The number of months of earnings to consider is set by the allowance's configuration. However, for employees hired more recently than that configured period, the number of months the employee has actually been employed is used instead.

Example 1 — Employee hired longer ago than the configured period

The employee has been employed for 20 months. Since this number is higher than the configuration (12), the configured period is used.
Reference period = 12 months

Example 2 — Employee hired more recently than the configured period

The employee has been employed for 4 months. Only 3 months have been processed. Since this number is lower than the configuration (12), the number of processed months is used.
Reference period = 5 months

2. Add up the earnings for the period

The earnings amounts for each of the months set in the previous step are added together. If any month has no associated earnings, it can be entered with a value of zero.

Example: Reference period = 3 months

Monthly earnings for the period:

Month 1: 180,000 Akz
Month 2: 180,000 Akz
Month 3: 0 Akz (month with no earnings, due to absences)

Total earnings = 180,000 + 180,000 + 0 = 360,000 Akz

Even with a month at 0 (for example, due to the employee's absence), that month still counts toward the number of months in the reference period — only the earnings amount is zero.

3. Calculate the average monthly earnings

The total earnings (step 2) is divided by the number of months considered (step 1).

Average monthly earnings = Total earnings / No. of months

Example: Average monthly earnings = 360,000 / 3 = 120,000 Akz

4. Calculate the reference daily amount

The average monthly earnings is divided by 30, to get an average daily amount.

Daily amount = Average monthly earnings / 30

Example: Daily amount = 120,000 / 30 = 4,000 Akz

5. Specify the number of days to be paid

The number of days the calculation refers to is specified here (for example, maternity leave or pre-maternity leave days).

Example: 180-day pre-maternity leave. In the 1st month of the leave, only 10 days of that month need to be calculated.

6. Specify the applicable percentage

The percentage to apply to the calculated amount is specified here, depending on the nature of the allowance in question.

Example: Since this is the pre-maternity allowance, a percentage of 60% must be applied, in accordance with the law in force.

7. Calculate the total amount

The daily amount (step 4) is multiplied by the number of days (step 5) and by the percentage (step 6). The result is rounded to a whole number.

Total = Daily amount × No. of days × Percentage

Example: Total = 4,000 × 10 × 60% = 24,000 Akz

Final result of the example: 24,000 Akz

Summary of the final formula: Total = (Average monthly earnings / 30) × No. of days × Percentage