Starting this July, the City of Brno’s parental voucher scheme will be extended to more families, including preschoolers, and non-Czech parents with permanent residence in Brno will also be eligible to apply.
The scheme launched in mid-November last year, and hundreds of parents have since applied. In order to grant this financial support to more children, and enable them to participate in leisure activities, city councillors proposed changes to some parameters, which were approved at a meeting on 18 June.
“Parental vouchers are primarily intended for parents with children who cannot afford to pay for clubs, camps and other leisure activities,” said Petr Bořecký, Brno city councillor for the citizen participation. “They are particularly popular among single mothers and low-income families. We know from information from providers of children’s activities that, thanks to this support, children will be able to attend camps and clubs whose parents would not normally be able to afford it.”
“After half a year of operation of the project, we decided to adjust some parameters, based partly on feedback from parents. From July, more children will receive the allowance, especially those of a younger age,” added Bořecký.
So far, parents or legal representatives have claimed 2,557 vouchers through the Brno iD portal. Each voucher is worth up to CZK 4,000 in the form of credits.
“Another change is that we have taken into account multiple families, when the discretionary income of CZK 750,000 per year is increased by CZK 200,000 for each child from the third and subsequent children,” said Borecký. “Last but not least, on the basis of requests from schools and other organisations, we will add to the model contract a specific list of activities for which the vouchers can be used.”
The list of activities for which the credits can be used still includes all clubs, but also camps, suburban camps, outdoor schools, ski training, dancing, and school trips (even abroad).
More information about the vouchers and applications can be found here.
