City of Chemnitz plans to refund daycare centre fees due to the strike
The City of Chemnitz is preparing a draft resolution for the City Council meeting in July to be able to refund daycare centre fees on request if parents cannot be offered childcare due to the strike. This was decided today by Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig.
"I hope that the strike will end soon. However, as we unfortunately have no influence on this, I have decided today to make this proposal to the city council. It will become increasingly difficult for parents to organise care for their children if there is an indefinite strike," said the mayor. "It will also be more difficult for us to organise emergency childcare, although we still aim to provide parents with childcare if both parents are working or are single parents who are dependent on the daycare centres."
The pro rata parental contribution, which varies between €2.97 and €8.57 per day depending on the age of the child, family situation, childcare hours and parents' income, is to be reimbursed at one twentieth of the monthly contribution. This is to take place retroactively from the first day of the strike on 8 May. In the city of Chemnitz, 64 per cent of parents pay all or part of the daycare fees themselves. These are parental contributions for 5590 children. In the remaining cases, the city of Chemnitz will pay all or part of the parental contribution.
Provided the city council follows the proposal, parents can submit the corresponding application from 9 July. A corresponding application form will be available at www.chemnitz.de and in the daycare centres. Parents have six weeks to submit their application. Reimbursement is excluded if emergency childcare is utilised.
There is no legal entitlement to reimbursement; the city pays back the fees as a voluntary service due to the strike. The costs, currently estimated at around 167,000 euros, are to be financed from the labour costs saved by the childcare workers on the strike days.
During the first days of the strike, all but two or three daycare centres in the city were able to open. Today, 31 centres are already closed.
The city council is to decide on the proposal at its meeting on 8 July. The Youth Welfare and Administration and Finance Committees will hold preliminary discussions.