Vijayawada: The state government on Tuesday issued orders removing the upper age limit for children for availing Child Care Leave (CCL) by government employees, permitting eligible employees to utilise the leave facility at any time during their service up to retirement.

The finance department issued the orders with immediate effect, extending the benefit to women employees as well as single male employees, including unmarried, widower and divorcee employees, subject to existing eligibility conditions. The revised policy also covers children with disabilities.

As per the orders, Child Care Leave may be availed for child rearing, attending to children’s health needs, or caring for them during school or college examinations, illness and other related requirements.

The government recalled that it had initially permitted women employees to avail Child Care Leave for a maximum period of 60 days during their entire service. This entitlement was later enhanced to 180 days, to be availed in a maximum of three spells. Subsequently, the facility was extended to single male employees on similar terms.

In a further revision, the government increased the permissible number of spells for availing the eligible 180 days of Child Care Leave from three to 10 spells during the entire service period.

Employees who had already availed 60 days or part thereof were allowed to utilise the extended period within the revised limit of 10 spells, excluding the spells already availed.

Earlier, the government had removed the upper age limit for women employees and permitted them to avail Child Care Leave at any stage of service before retirement, while directing the finance department to issue detailed operational guidelines.

The government has now formally extended the removal of the upper age limit to both women employees and single male employees, including in cases involving differently-abled children. All other conditions stipulated in the earlier government orders will continue to apply.