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State social support

Social support is primarily regulated by the State Social Support Act and the Act on Material Need. For any state social support or material need allowance, it is generally assessed whether you are entitled to the benefit, both from a residency and financial perspective, where the income and expenses of the family are examined. A significant exception is the parental allowance, for which income and expenses are not considered; it is a so-called non-means tested benefit.

Applicants for international protection can apply for state social support benefits 365 days after registering in the territory, provided they are not residing in a reception center of the Ministry of the Interior.

Laws:

State social support benefits

More information can be found on the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs website at the following link HERE.

Child Allowance (info HERE)
Housing Benefit (info HERE and HERE)
Parental Allowance (info HERE)
Foster Care Benefits (info HERE)
Maternity Benefit (info HERE)
Funeral Benefit (info HERE)
Life and Existential Minimum (info HERE)
Complete information on assistance in material need can be found HERE
Living Allowance (info HERE)
Housing Supplement (info HERE)
Extraordinary Immediate Assistance (info HERE)
Electronic Forms HERE
Contacts for individual branches of the Employment Office HERE

Maternity leave and maternity allowance

Maternity leave is usually intended for expectant mothers, but in some cases the father or foster parent can also take it. Maternity leave starts 6-8 weeks before the expected birth. Your employer must allow you to take maternity leave and you are also protected throughout your pregnancy – i.e. your employer cannot fire you or force you to change your employment contract. Together with maternity leave, you can apply for maternity support, which we call financial assistance in maternity (maternity allowance).

You must meet 2 conditions:

Be insured for at least 270 days in the past 2 years in the Czech Republic.
At the time of starting maternity leave, you must be insured for health or be in the so-called protection period, i.e. 180 days from the last employment.

Maternity allowance is intended for 28 weeks, in the case of twins or more children born, it is 37 weeks, if you start on time. If you start after the birth of the child, this support is shortened to 22 weeks. If the father wants to go on maternity leave and the mother back to work, this is only possible after 6 weeks from the birth and an agreement between the parents needs to be signed. In this case, the father must meet the same conditions for entitlement to maternity allowance as the mother.

The amount of maternity benefit is 70% of the reduced daily assessment base per calendar day. The daily assessment base is usually determined from the income for the 12 calendar months before the start of the benefit.

Your gynecologist will issue the application, you will hand it over to your employer, who will send the application to the relevant OSZ, which will calculate your daily assessment basis and subsequently send you PPM (maternity financial assistance).

More information can be found HERE.

Paternity leave

The child’s father can take paternity leave in the first 6 weeks after the expected birth of the child and for a period of 14 days.

The application for paternity leave is submitted to the employer. The condition that must be met is 3 months of sickness insurance and the child’s father must be registered on the child’s birth certificate.

If you are self-employed and pay for your own health insurance, you can also apply for paternity leave. It is important to note that the Czech Social Security Administration (CSSA) has 30 days to respond, so the application must be submitted in good time, at least 30 days before you start paternity leave.

The amount of paternity benefit is 70% of the reduced daily assessment base per calendar day. The daily assessment base is usually determined from the income for the 12 calendar months before the start of the benefit.

You can find the application for the paternity postnatal care benefit HERE.

More information to be found HERE.

Parental allowance

This is a state social support benefit. This benefit should be linked to the maternity allowance. If you are not entitled to the maternity allowance, you may still be entitled to the parental allowance.

The condition for the parental allowance is residence in the Czech Republic. The parental allowance is regulated by the Social Security Act, which specifies who is entitled to it by law. The parental allowance is provided to one of the parents. It is considered a benefit for the child, so the child must also meet certain requirements.

Requirements for the child: birth in the Czech Republic, permanent residence, temporary residence for the purpose of family reunification with an EU citizen, long-term residence for family reunification, asylum, registered in the Czech Republic for 365 days, etc.
Requirements for the parents: Permanent residence, temporary residence for the purpose of family reunification with an EU citizen, asylum, long-term residence, with the need to determine according to the law when you are eligible, for example, with an employment card, this is after 3 months on the territory. If you have a long-term visa, you need to meet the condition of 365 days from the date of registration in the territory.

From January 1, 2024, the total amount of the parental allowance increases to 350,000 CZK, and in the case of multiples, to 525,000 CZK. Please note, this applies only to children born after January 1, 2024. The allowance is paid monthly according to your daily assessment base (DVZ). In practice, this means that the monthly amount you received for maternity leave (PPM) can be requested as the highest monthly amount for the parental allowance. If you did not receive maternity leave benefits, you can request the calculation of DVZ. The Czech Social Security Administration (ČSSZ) will calculate it after the application is submitted. The application can be found on the MPSV website at the link HERE.

The parental allowance from January 1, 2024, can be claimed until the child reaches 3 years of age.

The parental allowance before January 1, 2024, can be claimed until the child reaches 4 years of age.

The application is submitted at the Employment Office in your place of residence at the state social support department. The application can also be submitted online via the Jenda application. It may happen that the Employment Office will request some documents even after the application has been submitted. You can find the application HERE.

Child allowance

Child allowance is intended for low-income families, especially single mothers, families with young children or students. It is a means-tested benefit and you must provide evidence of the income and expenses of the entire family.

The benefit can be drawn for a child from birth to 18 years of age and then up to 26 years of age if they are studying. It is a dependent child benefit: a parent applies for a minor child, while dependent adults aged 18 to 26 apply for it themselves.

The entitlement to child benefit arises if the family income does not exceed 3.4 times the family’s living minimum. This is calculated as the sum of the living minimum amounts for each family member. Typically, this amount changes every year. It is recommended to search for a calculator to calculate the living minimum for the given year.

Monthly amount of child benefit according to the child’s age:

Up to 6 years – 830 CZK
From 6 to 15 years – 970 CZK
From 15 to 26 years – 1,080 CZK

The allowance is increased by CZK 500 if any of the jointly assessed persons has income: For the increased assessment, income from employment (which reaches at least the amount of the individual’s subsistence minimum), income from business, sick leave, pension or unemployment benefit, allowance for the care of a person under 18 years of age or parental allowance are taken into account.

Monthly amount of child allowance in the increased assessment according to the child’s age:

Up to 6 years – 1,330 CZK
From 6 to 15 years – 1,470 CZK
From 15 to 26 years – 1,580 CZK

The application is submitted as for previous benefits at the employment office in your place of residence at the state social support department. The application can also be submitted online via the Jenda application. It may happen that the employment office requests some documents even after the application has been submitted. More information and the application can be found on the website of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs under the link HERE.

Birth grant

It is a benefit for families with low incomes. You can apply for birth grant until the child is 1 year old. It is intended mainly for the purchase of baby supplies. The benefit is a so-called tested benefit, so you will have to prove the income and expenses of the entire family to the labor office. You can apply for maternity benefit for the 1st and 2nd born live child. For the 1st child, you will receive a one-time benefit of 13,000 CZK, for the second, 10,000 CZK.

The application is submitted, as with previous benefits, to the labor office in your place of residence at the state social support department. The application cannot yet be submitted via the Jenda application, but if you have a data box or electronic signature, you can also apply online.

More information and the application can be found on the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs website under the link HERE.

Care allowance

Do you have a sick child under 10 years old? If you work but have to stay home with a sick child, you can apply for care allowance. It is a benefit from the Czech health insurance system. The basis for calculating the benefit is the daily assessment basis, which will be calculated by the relevant Regional Social Security Administration.