“The state must guarantee a place in kindergarten”
Vice Speaker of the State Duma from the Liberal Democratic Party Boris Chernyshov encouraged families in which replenishment is expected with good news, coming up with the idea to legislate the preservation of payments for child care, which today are limited to 1.5 years of the child, until the time when the baby is attached to kindergarten. Chernyshov believes that if a family has difficulties with a place in a children's institution, then until the mother finds him, maternity leave should be preserved. «MK» understood the «pitfalls» of this initiative together with an expert demographer.
“I propose to pay maternity leave not up to a year and a half, but until the child is enrolled in kindergarten, – Boris Chernyshov announced the essence of the initiative on his resource. – Prepared and sent to the Government of the Russian Federation a draft law that will link the period of payment of childcare benefits with the fact of providing a place in a kindergarten.
To do this, the deputy proposed to expand the new norms of Articles 13 and 14 «On State Benefits to Citizens with Children». He explained that if a child, after reaching 1.5 years old, is not placed in a kindergarten, then his mother cannot go to work. And & nbsp; means that it will not be able to generate income. “The family finds itself in a critical financial situation: you can’t work, because the baby is in your arms, and the maternity ones are no longer paying, – he spoke. – The bill will oblige the Social Fund to pay benefits exactly until the child is given a place in kindergarten. this means that the payment will be up to two years.
At the same time, this initiative is especially relevant for single mothers, since they often have to rely on child care allowance for up to 1.5 years, which cannot exceed 40% of the average salary.
«MK» discussed the idea with a demographer, chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Institute of Demography, Migration and Regional Development
– I see two completely opposite aspects of this initiative. First moment – the question is very correct and timely raised. The fact is that we have practically not regulated the right of children declared by the state to attend kindergarten. Therefore, the first part of the initiative raises, in my opinion, an important question – introduction of a system for recording the availability of places in kindergartens and a request through the State Services for parents to have the official result of their application to local kindergartens regarding the placement of a child there. There should be an appropriate response from the municipal authorities that at the present time «we cannot grant you such a right due to something … «.
Often parents can hear: there are no places in the state kindergarten nearby, go to a private one. But, sorry, private gardens can cost a fortune! In this case, in my opinion, it is necessary to provide for some kind of compensation from the state for the costs of a private kindergarten. Relatively speaking, private costs 30,000 rubles. per month, and some part of the parents could be reimbursed (in the absence of places in the state). Either provide a state garden, or compensate for a private garden – it should be the task of the state.
But the second moment – that the focus is on improving the lives of single parents through this initiative, – debatable in my opinion. On the one hand, humanly this is correct, but on the other – It turns out that we have support measures and are aimed mainly at a single mother. And the question arises: what is the goal of the state in demographic policy? Divorce and live with children as a single mother? After all, it is no secret that many, because of these benefits, decide on a fictitious divorce – this has already been discussed many times. Therefore, in my opinion, a more thoughtful approach is required here.
According to Yuri Krupnov, the bill on maintaining maternity payments for a child, if parents are denied a place in a kindergarten, can apply to children under five years old.< /p>
By the way, we note that in June of this year it became known about the initiative of the Russian Ministry of Labor in connection with the same allowance for caring for a child under 1.5 years old. The agency offered to keep these payments even if the recipient (mom or dad) leaves for work early. This draft law also provides for amendments to the Federal Law «On State Benefits to Citizens with Children». That is, if the parent receiving the allowance went to work before the child was 1.5 years old, the payment remains. These changes are open for public comment.
Currently, such payments are reserved only for those mothers (or fathers, if they have taken maternity leave) who work on a part-time basis.
Recall what is the essence of the payment for the care of a child up to 1.5 years. This manual – insurance, that is, it is received by those who worked and suspended work in connection with caring for a child. The amount is equal to 40% of the average insured earnings for the last two years. The minimum amount in 2023 is 8,591 rubles, and cannot exceed 33,281 rubles. (even if the recipient has fabulous earnings). That is, there are lower and upper limits.
At the same time, student parents can receive such an allowance, even if they do not work. And parents who do not work and do not study can receive such a payment only on the basis of a comprehensive means assessment. In this case, the family needs to decide what allowance it will receive – for the care of a child under 1.5 years of age or a single allowance for children. The amount of the single allowance – 50%, 75% or 100% of the subsistence level per child. The lower the family income, the higher this payment. Parental leave can also be taken by fathers, but if the father's salary is higher than that of the mother, then this may be unprofitable for the family.