In 2007, parental leave transfers were changed from a flat-rate, means-tested child-raising allowance to an eamings-related parental leave benefit w'ith floors and ceilings. As parents (mostly women) return quicker and in greater numbers to the labour market, much of any additional cost of the scheme is likely to be offset by increases in tax receipts and decreases in other public expenditures associated w'ith inactivity: Estimates by the research institute RWI suggest that even in its first few years as much as 25% of the additional cost was cancelled out by increases in government revenues and decreases in other expenditure (Bechara et al., Following the German reform, the share of fathers claiming the parental leave allowance doubled to one-third over the 2009-13 period (Destatis, 2015b).