The scheme can be administered entirely online via a new app on the Brno iD platform. Credit: Brno City Municipality.
Brno, Nov 16 (BD) – The City of Brno launched its children’s leisure activities voucher scheme yesterday, which will give the parents of each child in the city CZK 4,000 per year to spend on school clubs, holiday camps, or outdoor education. The scheme can be administered entirely online via a new app on the Brno iD platform.
“We are launching the project today so that parents can calmly prepare and orient themselves in the new support system focused on their children’s free time,” said the Mayor of Brno, Markéta Vaňková. “Parental vouchers are mainly intended for families who cannot afford to pay for their children’s leisure activities. Family budgets are often tight, and organised leisure activities are among the items that are quickly omitted. We would like children to be able to engage in enjoyable and fulfilling activities, which is why we have allocated CZK 100 million from the budget for the first year of the project.”
Parental vouchers will be available to all children between the ages of 6 and 18, and their legal representatives should apply on their children’s behalf. The City of Brno will then provide a gift in the form of a voucher. The condition is permanent residence in Brno and Czech citizenship.
“In practice, this means that parents apply for a voucher for their child on the Brno iD portal, and after meeting all conditions, credit of CZK 4,000 will be added to the child’s account,” said Filip Chvátal, Brno city councillor for family policy. “These credits can then be transferred to an organisation involved in the project, and Brno will then pay the credits to their bank account. At the moment, there are approximately 800 organisations running leisure activities for children in Brno.”
It will not be possible to pay for any individual leisure activities using only the vouchers. “The minimum level of co-financing by parents was set at 20% of the amount, but specific parameters are set directly by the organisations, between 20% and 80% of the price. The remaining part will be paid through credits from Brno iD,” explained education councillor Irena Matonohová.
For example, if the total price of a leisure activity is CZK 3,000, and the organisation has set the participation of the client to be 60%, then the parents will pay the organisation CZK 1,800, and the Parental Vouchers can be used to pay the remaining CZK 1,200.
A new module is now live on the Brno iD website to support the scheme, launched at the same time as a new visual concept for the website.
“Another condition for the use of Parental Vouchers is the annual net income of the family, which should not exceed CZK 750,000,” said Brno’s Deputy Mayor Jaroslav Suchý. “The parent proves this according to the calculation directly within the application by confirming a sworn statement. We would like the contributions to reach as many families with lower incomes as possible, who really cannot afford programs for children’s free time. From the amount of money approved this year, we can support up to 25,000 children.”
The scheme is designed to minimise the administrative burden for all participants: parents, leisure organisations and the city. Participating organisations will have an account created in the BrnoiD e-shop, for the administration of their leisure activities and payment of credits. The amount will then be paid collectively in the month following the start of the activity, for all children registered.
When applying for credits, parents should choose the organisation running their chosen activity, and enter the name of the club, start date, price, amount of credit and other information according to the instructions. They may include a variable symbol, which allows the organisation to match payments from the voucher with the parent’s additional payment. The parent will then send an offer of credits; the organisation must accept this in the application, after which the credit will be applied, and then reimbursed by the city within a month.
The donation will be made on the basis of a donation contract, which will be signed electronically. This type of solution is already used, for example, in subsidising the Šalinkarta program. Credits from the first year can be used for classes starting on 1 January 2024. The promotion will last until 30 November 2024.
