From Wednesday, young parents will be able to take advantage of new maternity leave lasting one or two months.
Published 06/30/2026 05:51
Updated 06/30/2026 07:01
Reading time: 2 min.
A young father holds his child, a few days old, on September 19, 2020 in Valence (Drôme). (NICOLAS GIONNE/HANS LUCAS/AFP)
It’s almost time for the 2026 break. And, as every year, with the arrival of summer and its heat wave, new measures come into force on Wednesday, July 1st. For some parents, the summer period will be an opportunity to take advantage of the new maternity leave, while for others this date will be synonymous with rising prices, especially for gasoline. Franceinfo looks back and looks at what is changing.
Arrival of the first maternity leave
From Wednesday, new parents will be able to take advantage of new additional maternity leave to spend more time with their child, with partial compensation. Lasting one or two months, it can be taken by each parent simultaneously or alternately after maternity leave (16 weeks, including 10 postpartum) and parental leave (four weeks). To be eligible, you must be the parent of a child born on or after January 1, 2026, or born premature but whose birth was planned after this date.
Rising gas prices
Bad news for everyone who uses gas. The benchmark selling price for this fossil energy industry has risen 7.4% since Wednesday. According to the Energy Regulatory Commission, this means an increase in the average bill for July of 2.70 euros. This is a consequence of the evolution of gas prices in markets rising due to the war in the Middle East. This increase applies to consumers signing up for offers indexed at this base price.
New customs duties on small parcels
Buying groceries from afar should cost more. A new tax on small parcels entering the European Union comes into force from Wednesday. It will be 3 euros for goods ordered in a parcel worth less than 150 euros, arriving from a country outside the EU. The system was planned to be combined with the €2 tax introduced in France in February, but the government decided to suspend the measure on Tuesday 30 June.
More specifically, if you buy three identical T-shirts, you pay 3 euros only once, but if the parcel contains a T-shirt, headphones and jewelry, the tax will be 9 euros (three items in separate customs categories).
Seventy-year-olds are no longer exempt from home help contributions
The age at which a person employing domestic help can, without any other conditions, obtain an exemption from employer contributions has now been increased from 70 to 80 years. This provision, contained in the Finance Act 2026, was the subject of an April 8 decree. Specifically, a person aged 70 to 79 who wants to hire a home worker will see their employment costs rise from July.
Thanks to this saving measure, the system, according to the Ministry of Labor, will be reoriented. “for those who need it (recipients of disability compensation or special dependency benefits, parents of disabled children, families in difficulty, etc.)”.
Foreign students are deprived of housing assistance
Non-European students not receiving scholarships will lose Individual Housing Allowance (APL) from Wednesday, according to a decree published in the Official Journal on Sunday. The measure, adopted as part of the 2026 Finance Law, was approved in February by the Constitutional Council. However, students who undertake an internship or work in a professional capacity in parallel with their studies, for at least one hour per week, will be able to retain this housing assistance.