Over 30 delegates from different Member States and International bodies attended a two-day Peer Review on ‘Making Work Pay for Mothers’, in Malta on 18-19 May 2015.

Representatives from national ministries and independent experts from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland, Italy, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Slovakia as well as the European Commission learned about the free childcare scheme for working parents, which came into force in Malta in April 2014.

The event provided opportunities for exchange with other European countries to discuss the different forms of family-friendly initiatives which have shown to be effective in increasing the active labour market participation of parents. It enabled participants to discuss how different factors (such as education level, labour market conditions, leave provisions) intervene in the way child care policies affect female labour force participation.

This Peer Review was hosted by the Employment & Training Corporation, Malta as part of the Mutual Learning Programme.