Nursery fees are rising in cities after cities, and in leaps and bounds, which is understandably worrying parents. Meanwhile, the assumption is that they will be financed by a new government program – Active Parent. – In principle, it is very good – says Aldona Machnowska-Góra, deputy mayor of Warsaw. – It is supposed to support parents, but also local governments – she explains.
It started in Koszalin. The fixed fee (excluding meals) for nursery care there was PLN 580 per month. From October, it was to increase threefold – to PLN 1,750. October 1 is also the date of launch of the Active Parent program.
Shortly afterwards, it turned out that increases were also coming to other cities. In Częstochowa, the fee for a nursery was PLN 721.4, and due to the latest resolution of the city council, it is to increase to PLN 1,500. A resident of Ząbkowice Śląskie, a city in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, wrote to the Kontakt24 mailbox. She received a notification that the fees would increase from PLN 400 to PLN 1,500. “We have no alternative, there is only one public nursery in the city,” the woman was angry. “The nursery takes this money, we will break even. It was not supposed to be like this, it was supposed to be support for parents,” she commented.
We asked about increases in nurseries in provincial cities. Most have not yet raised prices, but in several cases we were told that such changes are planned.
We also spoke with an employee of a public nursery in the Lubuskie province, who said she was afraid of price increases – The offices are taking advantage of the situation. They will add these payments to parents – she said.
Will this actually be the case? We'll check.
What is the Active Parent programme about?
For the first time – still as “grandmother's” – Donald Tusk he said over a year ago. At a meeting in Częstochowa in March 2023, he argued that a new benefit was needed.
– After the most important first weeks and months, mothers very often want to go back to work. They would like to, but they can't (…) because they have no one to leave the child with or they don't have money to pay for a nursery. More than 50 percent of mothers do not go back to work after maternity leaveeven though 92 percent of mothers say: “I would like to go back to work,” he explained.
He added that “if this break in work is to last two or three years, it often turns into a life-long break, you lose your qualifications”. – We propose “granny” – 1500 PLN per month for every mother who would like to return to work after maternity leave – he summed up.
After the elections, “grandmother's” became the Active Parent program. This form of support includes three benefits:
– Active parents at work (“grandmother's”) – PLN 1,500 per month for professionally active parents to care for a child aged 12 to 35 months; – Active in the nursery – up to PLN 1,500 per month to cover the costs of a child's stay in a nursery, children's club or with a day carer; Active at home – PLN 500 per month for parents raising a child at home from 12 to 35 months of age.
The current controversy concerns the second benefit.
Who pays for free nursery?
– In principle, this is a very good program – says Aldona Machnowska-Góra, deputy mayor of Warsaw. – It is supposed to support parents, but also local governments. Nurseries are not profitable, it is a large investment for the city. Smaller local governments simply cannot afford to create nursery places and cover the costs of maintaining them. Thanks to this program, it will be possible to invest money in nursery care – she argues.
Let's go back to Koszalin for a moment. Parents actually pay a small part of the current nursery fee (PLN 580 plus meals), because the state adds PLN 400. From October, the subsidy will increase even more thanks to the Active in the Nursery benefit. As a result, despite a three-fold increase in the fixed fee, parents had to pay several dozen złoty more per month.
One more important detail – the subsidy of up to PLN 1,500 offered by the state does not go to the parents, but directly to the entity – e.g. a nursery or a children's club, public or private.
Aldona Machnowska-Góra explains the situation in Warsaw. 17,000 places in nurseries are available free of charge in the capital – 10,000 in public facilities and 7,000 in private ones. The city finances the fees.
In order to take advantage of the Actively in the Nursery program, the city… must introduce a fee for nurseries. – It's quite unfortunate – admits the vice-president. But she explains that nothing will change for parents. Care will still be free for them. Fees are required to apply for funding under the program.
The city is to allocate the money obtained in this way for more free places in nurseries. As she announces, the city is aiming for 20,000 places. – We plan to improve nursery care in terms of quantity and quality – says Machnowska-Góra.
So where does the storm about the program come from? Machnowska-Góra believes that it is the fault of a “mistake” made by councilors in Koszalin. – The city council changed the system so that parents had to pay more than before it was launched. It shouldn't be like that. Many local governments are in a situation where they change the resolution because they paid less than PLN 1,500 for nurseries, and they want to take advantage of this government support. There is nothing wrong with that – she assures.
Earlier, Koszalin's deputy mayor Sebastian Tałaj said that “after the changes there will be a pay rise for parents, because our budget is not tight. We are short by over PLN 20 million.”
Money for nursery workers
The Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy is trying to control the communication crisis. Aleksandra Gajewska, deputy head of the MRPiPS, visited Koszalin and Łódź this week, where she addressed allegations regarding the program.
– The aim of the Active Parent programme is to achieve a situation in which parents' fees for early childhood care are either drastically reduced or, as in the case of Łódź or Koszalin, are covered by the state – she explained.
Gajewska explained this using the example of Łódź. – The cost of care for one child is PLN 2,250, of which PLN 1,500 will be covered by the state budget; the rest will be covered by the local government. This is a structure of joint responsibility and investment in the youngest – she said.
Hanna Zdanowska, the mayor of Łódź, echoed her. – Until now, the city has been paying a large part of the costs of nursery care. In Łódź, parents paid PLN 460, and the remaining costs, which currently amount to over PLN 2,250 per child, were covered from the city budget – she emphasized. – At the moment, parents will not incur any costs related to the fixed fee. This applies to nurseries belonging to the city.
The city intends to allocate the funds saved thanks to government support to staff and additional nursery places. After September 1 (with compensation from July 1), all employees of Łódź nurseries are to receive a PLN 1,000 motivational supplement.
Not a cost, but an investment
Following Gajewska's intervention in Koszalin, the city decided to withdraw the increases that would have affected parents of nursery children.
The city president Tomasz Sobieraj declared that he would submit a new draft resolution to the city council, in which the fixed fee will be set at PLN 1,500. It will be covered in full by the Aktywnie w człobku benefit. At a press conference organized together with the deputy minister, Sobieraj said that he was convinced by Gajewska's arguments regarding the need to socialize children for their better development.
– We created the Active Parent program so that parents of small children could not worry about how to organize care because they cannot afford it – said the deputy minister of family, labor and social policy in Koszalin.
She added that care will be free in Koszalin. – I really appreciate that. You have to understand the needs of parents and small children to make such a decision, you have to be a responsible local government official to understand it as an investment, not as a cost – she added.
– If prices were to rise, it wouldn't really pay off to go to work and pay someone to take care of you. It would be better to stay at home with your child – a mother from Ząbkowice Śląskie told us.
Meanwhile, the availability of nurseries may have an impact on demographics, as Poland faces a negative natural increase. Machnowska-Góra refers to this.
– We know that parents who have a child and received support in nursery care are more likely to decide to have another child. I think that this system will have positive effects that will be visible in the whole of Poland in a few years – he says.
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