Preschool childcare in Zurich is being expanded
As announced by the city of Zurich, from 2023 the day-care centers are to receive higher contributions from the social department for subsidized childcare places.
As part of the “Kita-Dialog Stadt Zürich” exchange program launched at the beginning of 2022, the Social Department of the City of Zurich and a committee of twelve managing directors of daycare providers in the city of Zurich discussed the further development of the urban framework for childcare.
Since the summer, there have also been tripartite talks between the Department of Social Affairs, the daycare centers working in the Daycare Dialogue and the Association of Public Service Personnel (VPOD), in which the Swiss Childcare Association kibesuisse also took part.
Complete package of financial and social partnership measures
The city and the social partners have agreed on common perspectives regarding financing and social partnership for the next few years, which will probably bring improvements for the day-care centers and probably for them, the children they look after and their parents.
The individual elements therein form an overall package and are subject to the respective approval of the responsible authorities, in particular the municipal council as part of the annual budget consultation in December 2022.
Accordingly, from January 2023, the standard cost rate for the pre-school care arrangements supported by the city of Zurich should be CHF 131.20, which corresponds to an increase of a good ten francs.
Of this, seven francs represent a reduction in the standard occupancy rate to 85 percent, and 3.20 francs correspond to a cost-of-living adjustment of 2.5 percent.
Social welfare office raises minimum wage requirements
In contrast to the latter, the day-care centers represented in the day-care center dialogue are concentrating on aligning a cost-of-living adjustment of 2.5 percent on the wages of all permanent employment relationships.
All day-care centers in the city are invited to follow this example and also grant cost-of-living compensation on their wages.
At the same time, the Department of Social Affairs is increasing its minimum wage requirements.
In addition, the social department provides additional property contributions for quality projects in the amount of three million francs, which can only be applied for by daycare centers that also raise wages to compensate for inflation.
Other planned projects
This mechanism for the cost-of-living adjustment is to be continued in the following year in a balanced manner; the percentage depends on the future effective cost-of-living – including any part of the annual control for 2022 that is not yet available.
In addition, the Department of Social Affairs would like to make another two million francs available for quality projects and another three million francs for real wage increases in 2024, although the mechanism for their use is still to be discussed with the social partners.
The day-care centers represented in the day-care center dialogue and the VPOD intend to start talks about a collective labor agreement in 2023, with the aim of the new “Ordinance on family-related childcare in the city of Zurich” coming into force at the beginning of 2025.
additional costs for the city
The negotiation constellation will be clarified in the coming months. The Swiss childcare association kibesuisse is also involved in the talks.
With the new ordinance, the standard cost rate is to be increased by a further two francs at the beginning of 2025 in order to reflect a standard utilization of 83.5 percent.
This corresponds to the average value commissioned by the Department of Social Affairs “Analysis of the effects of the new financing model in family-related childcare on day-care centers in the city of Zurich”.
According to these perspectives, the city will incur additional costs of ten million francs plus 3.2 million francs in the cost-of-living adjustment in 2023, and in the two following years another five or eleven million francs plus the cost-of-living adjustment.
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