From 2026, contributions for mothers who remain at work will increase: up to 720 euros a year with the new mothers bonus. More leave, hiring incentives and help for nursery and newborns
Working mothers. The 2026 Budget Law paints a clear picture: fewer protections for those who hoped for an early exit from work (Women’s Option disappears), but more incentives and support for those who remain. The bonus for working mothers is increasing, more flexibility at work, parental leave is expanding and financial aid such as the nursery bonus and for newborns is confirmed.
Working mothers bonus 2026: who is entitled to it and how much it is worth
The working mothers bonus is confirmed and expanded both in terms of audience and amounts. The contribution is aimed at women with at least two children, employed or self-employed, with the exclusion of domestic work, until the youngest child turns ten. The limit instead rises to the eighteenth year in the presence of three or more children. The income ceiling remains, set at 40 thousand euros per year. The main news concerns the figures. After the 40 euros per month recognized in 2025, for a maximum of 480 euros per year, from 2026 the allowance rises to 60 euros for each month worked, reaching up to 720 euros per year. The amount is paid in a single payment in December and does not contribute to the formation of taxable income. The application is made online at INPS, directly by the workers.
Work and conciliation: more flexibility for mothers with children
The Budget then introduces or strengthens a series of measures that directly impact the organization of work. For example, a partial exemption from contributions for private employers who hire women who are mothers of at least three minor children, unemployed for at least six months. An incentive designed to encourage the return to the job market of one of the most fragile categories on the employment front. Then there is a chapter dedicated to contractual flexibility. Workers with at least three cohabiting children obtain a preferential route in the transformation of the contract from full-time to part-time, both horizontally and vertically, or in the remodulation of the working hours if already employed part-time. The priority is valid up to the youngest child’s ten years of age, without limits in the presence of children with disabilities. On the replacement front, it is also foreseen that temporary contracts activated to cover workers or workers on leave may be extended for a period of coaching, until the child turns one, thus encouraging a more gradual return.
Leave, child bonuses and nursery schools: what’s new in the 2026 Budget
Then there is other news for mothers, beyond work. There Budget Law 2026 extends the child’s age within which it is possible to request parental leave from 12 to 14 years. The is then confirmed New born bonusesa one-off contribution of one thousand euros for each child born or adopted in 2025 and 2026. The benefit is available to families with ISEE not exceeding 40 thousand euros and must be requested within 120 days of the birth or entry of the minor into the family unit, through INPS channels. And then it is confirmed and expanded Nursery bonus. From 1 January 2026 it will no longer only concern traditional nursery schools, but micro-nurseries, spring sections and integrated integrated services such as play spaces (12-36 months, maximum 5 hours per day without canteen) and home educational services (3-36 months, with a reduced number of children). And the applications do not have to be made every year, but the one made the first time is valid until the month of August of the year in which the child turns three, if the requirements to be entitled to it remain. The amounts remain modulated based on the ISEE: up to 3 thousand euros for incomes under 25 thousand euros, 2,500 euros for ISEE up to 40 thousand euros and 1,500 euros above this threshold or in the absence of a declaration.
