The new vouchers for day-care centres are being used extensively

Half a year after the introduction of the vouchers for childcare in nurseries, the municipality of Hünenberg has drawn a positive balance. Due to the high response, however, the budget for the next year has to be adjusted.

From last August onwards, Hünenberg families have been able to obtain vouchers for childcare, and use them in nurseries throughout the canton of Zug. There were previously only subsidised places in a day-care centre in the village. The municipality is satisfied with the introduction of these vouchers, as the head of the department of social affairs and health, Christian Bollinger, said on request. Around 30 families with a total of 35 to 40 children have registered for the vouchers:

"This corresponds to the number of families who previously had their children cared for in the subsidised creche."

The municipality had assumed that the previous offer was sufficient for those who urgently needed subsidies. "Because there were always free places in the creche in the village," says Bollinger.

More children were added to the scheme in the autumn, so that care vouchers for 65 children are now paid out. CHF 148,000 was thereby spent on child care in the five months to the end of December. The 2021 budget of CHF 240,000 will accordingly not be enough to cover this, as more than CHF 350,000 will be needed to extend the five months to a whole year. Bollinger explained that the budget was drawn up on the basis of the figures when the vouchers were introduced in the summer. "More cases of child care arose than we had expected."

Form to be improved
The municipality will also make adjustments to the registration form. "It has to become even more self-explanatory," says Bollinger. At the moment, the responsible persons at the municipality still often have to enquire about individual points in the submitted self-declarations, as the families do not always fill them in correctly.

On the other hand, there should be no changes to the tariff model. At least not immediately. "We will look at the model again at the earliest in one year from now, i.e. one and a half years after the introduction." The municipality currently assumes that the tariffs will be left as at present.

More money for low-wage families - lower cap on high incomes
The tariff model for the child care vouchers in Hünenberg supports low-income parents more than the old model using subsidised places. In return, families with very high incomes will no longer receive money for child care. "The upper limit for subsidies was higher in the old tariff model," says Bollinger. It also stipulates that subsidies are only available if parents work at least 120% – or 20% for single parents. Hünenberg will no longer pay out child care vouchers if the parents have assets of more than CHF 350,000, regardless of income.

According to Bollinger, there have been no negative reactions from parents to the new guidelines. "We have neither had children being taken out of the creche, nor has there been any other feedback." He concludes that there is a great deal of understanding for the changes.