Background information

In the current pandemic, there are no longer country wide school closures, but the situation of parents whose children remain at home during local school closures and of those in quarantine due to contact with an infected person must be taken into account. Therefore the government decided to restore the measure "allowance in crisis" but with different parameters. The conditions for drawing the benefit and the benefit recipients have changed compared to the previous "Allowance in crisis benefit".

The condition for drawing the care allowance have been specified in the extraordinary bill - the Act No. 520/2021 Coll., on further adjustments to the provision of care allowances in connection with the emergency measures for the COVID-19 disease epidemic.

The law came into force on 15 December 2021 and is retroactive from 1 November 2021.

Content of measure

The care allowance is drawn for the entire period of school or classroom closure or for the entire period of the child's individual quarantine or quarantine for the whole family or child´s isolation due to illness.

Eligible for the benefit is an employee (including temporary workers with work agreements outside employment relationships in case they paid sickness insurance from their contract) who is unable to work because they are nursing/caring for a child under 10 years of age (the child must be under 10 years of age at the time of claiming the allowance), children over 10 years of age who are dependent on the care of another person and who use the services of day centres, weekly residential homes and similar facilities.

The crisis care allowance reaches 80% of the daily assessment base, with a minimum of CZK 400 per calendar day (€15 approx.) for full-time work.

The school's confirmation of the closure is replaced by a parent's affidavit that they must care for the child due to the closure of the school or classroom under emergency arrangements.

Use of measure

The measure has only been in force for a short time and we do not know neither its effect nor the number of beneficiaries.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment Other groups of workers Parents in employment	Does not apply to businesses	Children (minors) 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

• 15 December 2021: ZÁKON ze dne 15. prosince 2021 o dalších úpravách poskytování ošetřovného v souvislosti s mimořádnými opatřeními při epidemii onemocnění COVID-19 (www.sagit.cz)
• 21 December 2021: Ošetřovné při mimořádných opatřeních při epidemii – „Krizové ošetřovné“ (www.cssz.cz)
• 23 December 2021: Krizové ošetřovné od 1.listopadu 2021 (covid.gov.cz)
• 28 December 2021: Pětikoalice krizové ošetřovné i bonus v karanténě podpoří, ale i upraví (www.ceskenoviny.cz)