Background information

To combat the severe labour shortage in social services, child and family centers, and home care services, the government adopted and the parliament approved the stabilisation allowance to prevent the departure of employees and thus ensure high-quality care for recipients of social services.

The allowance is provided by the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family.

Content of measure

In order to pay for the one-time allowance, employers will receive a one-time grant from the Ministry. The stabilisation allowance will be granted to employees in institutions for the social protection of children and social guardianship, as well as professional employees and carers in selected social service facilities, as well as field carers. Employees must undertake to work for 3 years with their employer. In the event that the employee does not comply with his contractual obligation, they must return to the employer a proportionate part of the stabilisation contribution. The amount of the refunded amount will correspond to the time that the employee lacks to fulfil the contractual obligation.

An employee who has an agreed employment relationship for shorter working hours than weekly is also entitled to a stabilisation allowance. In this case, the right to subsidy is in a proportional amount, i.e. from the amount of the subsidy proposed for the relevant job position, which corresponds to the agreed working hours.

The employer and the employee must conclude a written agreement on the provision of the stabilisation allowance by 20 January 20 2023. The employer must submit a subsidy application to the Ministry of Labour by 31 January 2023.

The stabilisation allowance will be between €2,000 and €4,000 will be exempt from social and health contributions.

More than €60 million will be spent for this purpose.

Use of measure

A total of 26,161 employees in social services, child and family centers and home care services are entitled to the stabilisation allowance.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment Workers in care facilities	Does not apply to businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Company / Companies 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: Sectoral or branch level

Involvement

Social partners were informed in relation to the stabilisation allowance for social workers. This topic was not the subject of social dialogue through the tripartite.

Views and reactions

Considering that it is financial support for employees in the department of social services, the social partners agreed and had no reservations.

Sectors and occupations

Sources

• 20 December 2022: Nariadenie vlády SR č. 131/2022 (rokovania.gov.sk)