Hangzhou to Raise Maternity Insurance Contribution Rate

January 2, 2012 Posted by China Briefing Reading Time: 2 minutes

Jan. 2 – Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang Province, has recently announced a new regulation on maternity insurance, a move that may bring employers in the city higher expenses on social security coverage.

The new “Measures on Hangzhou Municipality Maternity Insurance Scheme (Hangzhengban [2011] No.22),” issued by Hangzhou’s local government on November 15, 2011, stipulates that the employer contribution rate to maternity insurance within Hangzhou City shall stand at 1.2 percent (compared to the existing 0.8 percent), whilst the contribution rate in suburban and rural Hangzhou shall be determined by the local governments of the districts/county-level municipalities.

The wage base for maternity insurance remains unchanged. An enterprise shall take the total monthly salary of all of its employees as the base for maternity insurance payment. However, where the monthly salary of an enterprise’s employee is below 60 percent or above 300 percent of the average monthly wage in Zhejiang Province last year, his/her wage base for maternity insurance shall be calculated at 60 percent (for a low salary employee) or 300 percent (for a high salary employee) of Zhejiang’s average monthly wage of the previous year.

According to the new document, an employee covered by maternity insurance can enjoy:

an allowance for giving birth (total amount = average monthly wage of all employees of the entity last year × maternity leave duration [month]) (varies depending on the pregnancy term, surgeries required such as cesarean section, as well as whether multiple births are involved)
an allowance for surgeries related to birth control and pregnancy termination (to comply with China’s one-child policy) (total amount = average monthly wage of all employees of the entity last year × sick leave duration [month]) (varies depending on the method of birth control, method of pregnancy termination, and pregnancy term prior to termination)
coverage of medical care expenses on giving birth
coverage of medical care expenses related to compliance with one-child policy

The Measures took effect on July 1, 2011, but according to Hangzhou’s Labor and Social Security Bureau, local authorities are still waiting for details on how to implement such increase.

Calculation of Maternity Benefits to Change in Dalian