Resolution №440 issued by the Cabinet of Ministers on August 13, 2026refines the procedure for awarding maternity benefits and temporary disability (“sick leave”) benefits.
What’s changing:
- A simpler approach to calculating the six-month insurance record. Previously, months without salary payments (unpaid leave or sick leave), for instance, could break an employee’s insurance record even while the employment relationship remained intact. Under the new rules, these months are no longer excluded, so the record can now be counted continuously.
- Low-paid and part-time workers are better accounted for. A month in which earnings reach at least one minimum wage now counts as a full month of insurance record; anything below that threshold counts as half a month. This means periods that previously might have been left out due to low income can now be included.
- Benefit amounts are protected when maternity leave is extended. In cases of complicated childbirth or the birth of two or more children, the additional benefit will be calculated using the same earnings figures as before, rather than being recalculated from scratch which prevent any unwarranted reduction in the payout.
The changes apply to insured events occurring on or after May 13, 2026.
The updated rules extend social protection to more people, remove unnecessary restrictions in how insurance records are calculated, safeguard the rights of low-income workers and mothers, and make benefit awards fairer and more transparent overall.
