Background information

The government action closed school institutions at all levels on 14 October 2020.  Therefore the amendment of the definition of care allowance in the Act No. 187/2006 Coll., on Sickness Insurance had to amended in line with the crisis situation. In an extraordinary bill the government has decided to modify the period of validity for payment of the care allowance to support the parents of young schoolchildren who are homeschooling their children. Parents are entitled to care allowance as long as the ban on school attendance remains in force.

Content of measure

The current phrasing of the Act No.187/2006 Coll., on Sickness Insurance provides care allowance for a period of nine calendar days to parents of children under the age of 10 who cannot be put in the care of a school / child-care facility; for single parents the care allowance is for a period of 16 calendar days. In the second wave of COVID-19 epidemic and during the second declaration of a state of emergency from the COVID -19 reasons (started 12 October 2020) the Czech government decided that parents will be entitled to care allowance as long as the ban on school attendance remains.

The allowance can be claimed by parents taking care of:

* child under 10 years of age (The age limit has been decreased compared to the first crisis measure during the first COVID-19 epidemic wave) * dependent children (but not older than 26 years) participating in school attendance and being dependent on the care of another person (from grade I onwards) * persons older than 10 years dependent on the care of another person using the services of daily, weekly hospitals and similar facilities

The amount of the crisis  care allowance  is 70% of the daily basis of assessment per calendar day. However, the government set newly a minimum amount per day CZK 400 (€15 approx.).

Also the self-employed are entitled to apply for the money. The government has approved a financial contribution for the self-employed who are currently at home to take care of children. The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, Ministerstvo průmyslu a obchodu České republiky, MPO administrates the program for the self/employed expecting announcements through calls. In the first stage, CZK 200,000,000 (€7,309,942 approx.) is allocated from the budget of the MPO. Self-employed persons will be entitled to obtain a fixed amount of CZK 400 (€15 approx.) per day. It is new  compared to the last measure related to care allowance, if the self-employed person decides to draw on the care allowance benefits, the same person cannot draw on another form of benefits intended for the self-employed persons.

Use of measure

As regards the care allowance for self-employed persons, The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, Ministerstvo průmyslu a obchodu České republiky, MPO received 110,872 applications in all calls from October 2020 to May 2021, and as of 1 July 2021, approximately 95,600 were paid for CZK 817,7 million. This follows from the MPO data available to the Czech Press Agency (CTK, 1.7.2021).

Data on care allowance in crisis for employees (administred by Ministry of Labour and Socila Affiars) is not available yet.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Parents in employment Single parents in employment	Does not apply to businesses	Parents

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Social insurance	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Informed	Informed
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

No involvement.

Views and reactions

Unknown.

Sources

• 16 October 2020: Government approved “nursing benefits” for the self-employed II (www.mpo.cz)
• 21 October 2020: Krizové ošetřovné (www.mpsv.cz)
• 30 October 2020: Schillerová „zařízla“ OSVČ: Buď bonus, nebo ošetřovné. Nepomohl ani Senát (www.podnikatel.cz)
• 01 July 2021: Živnostníci podali 15.000 žádostí o ošetřovné za duben (www.ceskenoviny.cz)