The state social support is regulated by Act no. 117/1995 Coll., on State Social Support, as amended. Under this Act, the following benefits are available:
- parental allowance
- birth grant
- funeral grant
- student allowance
Parental allowance
Children born before December 31, 2023
A parent who personally and duly cares for a child who is the youngest in the family is entitled to parental allowance. Parental allowance is provided until the total amount of 300,000 CZK is drawn, maximum up to 4 years of child’s age. In the case of twins or more children born at the same time, the total amount extends to 450,000 CZK.
Children born from January 1, 2024
A parent who personally and duly cares for a child who is the youngest in the family is entitled to parental allowance. Parental allowance is provided until the total amount of 350,000 CZK is drawn, maximum up to 3 years of child’s age. In the case of twins or more children born at the same time, the total amount extends to 525,000 CZK, from January 1, 2026, to 700,000 CZK.
A parent may elect the amount of parental allowance and thus the period of its drawing. The monthly amount of parental allowance is calculated based on daily assessment base for determination maternity benefit or sickness benefit related to child’s confinement or adoption according to the act on sickness insurance. If at least one parent in a family is a person participating in sickness insurance, the amount of parental allowance can get to 70 % of 30 multiple of daily assessment base (in 2026 59,997 CZK at the most). When the daily assessment base can be determined for both parents, the higher one is used for calculation. If the daily assessment base cannot be set for any parent, parents may elect the monthly amount up to 15,000 CZK. In the case of twins or more children born at the same time the monthly amounts are adjusted relevantly. Choice of the amount of parental allowance can be changed once in 3 months.
A parent is entitled to parental allowance provided:
- a child under the age of 2 years attends a child group or other facility for pre-school children for a maximum of 120 hours in a month;
The parent’s income is not tested; the parent may carry out an occupational activity without losing their entitlement to parental allowance. However, during the period of this occupational activity, the parent must ensure that the child is in the care of another adult.
Birth grant
This is a one-off benefit for low-income families to help them to cover cost related to the birth of their first and second live-born child. Families are entitled to the birth grant provided the family income in the calendar quarter prior to the birth of the child does not exceed 2.7 times the family’s living minimum. The birth grant amounts to 13,000 CZK for the first child and 10,000 CZK for the second child.
Funeral grant
The funeral grant is a one-off payment to a person who has arranged for the funeral of a dependent child, or to a person who was the parent of a dependent child, on condition that the deceased was a permanent resident of the Czech Republic on the date of death, or to a fetus after abortion of termination of pregnancy for medical reasons.
The amount of the funeral grant is a fixed sum totalling 5,000 CZK.
Student allowance
Student allowance provides support to students with babysitting costs during the period of study. A dependent child - a student who receives parental allowance for his or her child and at the same time is studying in the full-time form a bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree program at a university or at a higher vocational school - is entitled to a non-means-tested benefit. The age limit for the dependency condition (26 years) does not apply to students in a doctoral study programme. The benefit is not payable in the holiday months of July and August, during the period of interruption of studies, and in the first years of studies.
The monthly amount of the benefit is one third of the monthly minimum wage, i.e. in 2026 7,467 CZK.
Applying for benefits
The procedure for state social support benefits is carried out by the Labour Office of the Czech Republic. The appellate body is the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
Applications for benefits are submitted on forms prescribed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, at the contact points of the Labour Office of the Czech Republic, or electronically via the Jenda Client Zone. The addresses of the Regional Branches of the Labour Office of the Czech Republic can be found at https://up.gov.cz/kontakty-2. The application forms are available from https://mpsv.gov.cz/formulare.
Entitlement to benefits
Persons – Czech citizens and foreigners - have a right to benefits if they and the family/household members assessed jointly with them are registered as permanently resident in the Czech Republic and have their residence here. Act No 117/1995 Coll. on State Social Support stipulates other persons eligible for state social support benefits, if they have their residence in the Czech Republic. In the range of persons covered, there are also EU nationals who are subject of directly applicable legislation of the EU.
Entitlement to the payment of benefits expires
once three months have passed since the date to which the benefits apply. In the case of one-off benefits, an entitlement expires one year as of the date to which the benefit applies.
Income
decisive for an entitlement to state social support benefits includes, in particular, income from dependent activity (employment), income from entrepreneurship or other self-employment, sickness and pension scheme benefits, unemployment benefit, including similar income from abroad. Net income is taken into account in the decisive income.
Family
for the purposes of state social support consist of parents and dependent children if they reside jointly and cover costs of their needs in common. Dependent children are children up to the end of compulsory school attendance and beyond, if they undergo further education or vocational training, or if they are disabled, but up to a maximum of 26 years of age. In the case of housing allowance, all persons registered as permanently resident in the flat are jointly assessed and the condition of covering costs of their needs in common is not requested.
Contacts
Labour Office of the Czech Republic – Regional Branches and the Branch for the Capital of Prague
up.gov.cz
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
Na Poříčním právu 1, 128 01 Praha 2
Tel.: +420 221 921 111 mpsv.gov.cz, e-mail: posta@mpsv.gov.cz