Deputy Mayor of Zagreb Danijela Dolenec on Friday presented a new proposal for changes to the decision on stay-at-home parent allowances, under which the allowances would be cut and kindergarten capacity expanded to ensure kindergarten care for all children.

The new proposal for changes to the said decision will be put to public consultation on Friday, Dolenec said, adding that the public consultation process will last 30 days.

The decision on allowances for stay-at-home parents was adopted by the administration led by the late mayor Milan Bandic. In the period since 2016, it has cost the city 2.1 billion kuna. The new city administration, led by mayor Tomislav Tomasevic, had announced the measure would be downsized, but the High Administrative Court ruled in early July that the decision was illegal.

The new changes are aimed at expanding the city’s kindergarten capacity, Dolenec said on Friday, adding that 21 projects for kindergarten construction, as well as repurposing existing buildings to kindergartens had been submitted.

The city aims to implement most of those projects in 2023 and 2024, she said.

Dolenec noted that amending the stay-at-home parent scheme was aimed at making available as much city budget funds as possible to invest in kindergartens.

She added that the city administration considered the employment of mothers and enrolment of children in kindergartens important and that the city would not set any conditions in that regard.

A decision to that effect will be adopted by the Zagreb City Assembly in September and that six months after its adoption nothing would change for the beneficiaries of the stay-at-home parent scheme, she said.

On 31 March 2023, allowances for stay-at-home parents would be lowered to the amount of the net minimum wage (currently 3,750 kuna), and as of 30 June 2023, the allowance will amount to 50 percent of the minimum wage and stay at that level until a beneficiary’s exit from the scheme, Dolenec said.

By 30 September 2023, 50 percent of the beneficiaries whose child has turned 7 or more will have exited the scheme, Dolenec said.

After that date, each month beneficiaries whose child turns 7 will exit the scheme and the process will continue progressively until the last beneficiary, Dolenec said, adding that by the time the City Assembly holds a session in September, compensation measures for beneficiaries of the stay-at-home parent scheme would be unveiled.