ZAGREB, 29 July 2022 - Deputy Mayor of Zagreb Danijela Dolenec on Friday presented a new proposal for changes to the decision on stay-at-home parent allowances, under which the allowances would be cut and kindergarten capacity expanded to ensure kindergarten care for all children.
The new proposal for changes to the said decision will be put to public consultation on Friday, Dolenec said, adding that the public consultation process will last 30 days.
Recalling the chronology of events regarding the decision on allowances for stay-at-home parents, which was adopted by the administration led by the late mayor Milan Bandić and which in the period since 2016 has cost the city HRK 2.1 billion, as well as a recent ruling by the High Administrative Court, Dolenec said that the new changes were aimed at expanding the city's kindergarten capacity and that 21 projects for kindergarten construction and for repurposing buildings to kindergartens had been submitted. The city aims to implement most of those projects in 2023 and 2024, she said.
Dolenec noted that amending the stay-at-home parent scheme was aimed at making available as much city budget funds as possible to invest in kindergartens.
She noted that the city administration considered the employment of mothers and enrolment of children in kindergartens important and that it would not set any conditions in that regard.
A decision to that effect will be adopted by the Zagreb City Assembly in September and six months after its adoption nothing will change for the beneficiaries of the stay-at-home parent scheme, she said.
On 31 March 2023, allowances for stay-at-home parents would be lowered to the amount of the net minimum wage (currently HRK 3,750), and as of 30 June 2023, the allowance will amount to 50% of the minimum wage and stay at that level until a beneficiary's exit from the scheme, Dolenec said.
By 30 September 2023, 50% of the beneficiaries whose child has turned 7 or more will have exited the scheme, Dolenec said.
After that date, each month beneficiaries whose child turns 7 will exit the scheme and the process will continue progressively until the last beneficiary, Dolenec said, adding that by the time the City Assembly holds a session in September, compensation measures for beneficiaries of the stay-at-home parent scheme would be unveiled.
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