At a meeting on Wednesday 27 April, the government of Petro Fiala discussed a package of measures to help families with children cope with high inflation and energy prices. One of these measures is a payment of CZK 5,000 per child for households with an annual net income of up to CZK 1 million. According to Marian Jurečka (KDU-CSL), Minister for Labour and Social Affairs, it should be paid out by August. Photo credit: vlada.cz
Czech Republic, 29 April (BD) – The so-called family assistance package discussed by the government on Wednesday aims to respond to the current situation of families in the wake of the energy and humanitarian crisis related to the war in Ukraine, accompanied by soaring prices and inflation. The government says it wants to focus on supporting the income situation of families with children and on reconciling family and working life. According to ministers, families with children are an even more vulnerable group than pensioners, who have already been supported by a double indexation of pensions this year, which will very likely be followed by a third by law.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) said that the government’s strategy is to provide targeted assistance to those who really need it. “That is why today we have agreed on the following package of measures that will help the middle class, help families with children, single mothers and single parents. These are the groups of people who can get into trouble because of rising prices, and we want to prevent that. So today, we have decided on the family support package, which is aimed primarily at families with children.”
The key part of the package is a one-off payment to families of CZK 5,000 per child, to be paid to households with an income of up to CZK 1 million a year. The maximum amount of parental allowance will also be raised, from the current maximum of CZK 10,000 to CZK 13,000. The government is also preparing legislative changes to support part-time and flexible work, and will provide more support for children’s groups from the recovery plan and operational programmes.
“The policy of our government has been clear from the start,” said Fiala. “We are helping those who cannot help themselves with the impact of rising energy prices, food prices, and inflation and high prices generally. We are not going to let anyone down, but it is not within the capacity of state finances, nor would it be sensible, to give support across the board to everyone, to make blanket measures.” He argued that doing so would accelerate the “spiral of inflation” caused by the economic policies of Andrej Babiš’s government.
