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New daycare fees in Jena: More burdens for many parents!
Jena adjusts daycare fee structure: Reform aims at fairer financing and digital application. Information about income situation.
New daycare fees in Jena: More burdens for many parents!
A lot is happening in the area of child day care in beautiful Jena. From October 2025 there will be new daycare contributions that are based on the families' financial possibilities MDR reported. Around 30 percent of children in Jena live in households whose adjusted income is between 2,000 and 3,600 euros. For the 20 percent of children from households with incomes below 2,000 euros, the fee structure will remain unchanged, while fees will increase for half of children from wealthier households.
Philipp Grunert, the city parents' representative for the Jena kindergartens, is optimistic about the new fee model. The reform is primarily justified as a necessary adjustment to income developments in recent years, where the cost of a daycare place has risen from 8,400 euros in 2015 to the current 12,700 euros. Parents currently only cover 12 percent of the financing, which increases the pressure on families' pockets.
Fee structure details
The new fee model is based on various factors. This includes the average monthly income, the number of children in the household entitled to child benefit and the care time, as on the city of Jena website can be read. Parents have the opportunity to estimate their initial fees using a kindergarten fee calculator. Anyone who spends more than 20 percent of their income on care or is experiencing financial difficulties may be able to apply for an exemption from the fee.
The planned digitization of the registration process is pleasing, as it will also allow applications for the new fee rates online from October. This is intended to relieve both the administration and the kindergartens of unnecessary bureaucracy.
A fair regulation?
A major concern of the city is to create a fair fee structure. The maximum rate is paid by around 60 percent of families, which shows that the financing structure has shifted significantly recently. The adjustments are also intended to ensure that lower-income families are not placed unduly burdened, while at the same time ensuring fair inclusion of wealthier families.
The city expects the new regulations to generate income of around 1.1 million euros per year, which corresponds to an increase of 14 percent. This is particularly important in order to be able to fulfill the legal right to a daycare place for every child in the long term. It remains exciting to see how this reform is accepted by parents and whether it actually achieves the desired effects in order to ensure the long-term availability of childcare in Jena. As is well known, the care of children in the first phase of life is always a high priority, and thanks to the constant collection of data on child day care by Destatis is provided, the overview of the usage and the possibilities in this area is retained.