Childcare in Bonn Parents entitled to money back

Bonn · Good news for parents in Bonn: up to now parents had to pay full fees for both a child in kindergarten and one in the OGS after-school care. According to new rules, they now only have to pay for one child. This will cost Bonn city council up to six million euros.

The school and youth welfare committee has voted for a retroactive change in the rules for kindergarten fees in Bonn. Parents who had both a pre-school child (Vorschulkind) and another child in kindergarten between 2014 to 2016 are entitled to a refund of the fees. This will cost the city council up to six million euros in total. In future, parents who have a pre-school child and another in childcare at the same time will not have to pay fees. This applies when the second child is in kindergarten or with childminders (Tageseltern) and also if the second child goes to the Offene Ganztagschule (OGS) after-school supervision. Through this change, the city council will lose around two million euros per year in revenue.

It was a sunny end to the day on Thursday at the school and youth welfare committee: once the regulation is approved, the effected parents will be exempt from paying these fees. This regulation will then be as it was required by the Administrative Court in Cologne in its decision passed in September last year. The judges had declared the regulation from 2014/15 concerning case-by-case decisions invalid. The key point in their ruling: there has since been a change in the Child Education Law at regional level, according to which the day-care of a pre-school child must be free.

The judges believe that this provision excludes the payment of fees for a second child in the family. Following the decision, the in-house lawyers on the city council agreed. “Now our requirements are being complied with,” said Tobias Haßdenteufel from the Left parliamentary group, who had made the proposal for removing the fees. It is a positive move, he said, that now families who have pre-school children with brothers and sisters do not have to pay for them in OGS after-school care.

As reported, the Administrative Court in Cologne made a ruling in September on the complaint of a family in Bonn with two children, one of which was a pre-school child attending a state run kindergarten at the same time as a younger sibling. The pre-school child was exempt from the kindergarten fees, but the parents had to pay 3600 euros a year for the sibling child. Head of the Youth Welfare Office, Udo Stein promised “the payments made from 2014 to 2016, deemed unjust by today’s legal opinion, will be completely reimbursed or settled by any outstanding claims”. In charging the fees, the council had made what was “at the time, a legally incorrect assessment”. He justified, “at the time, what we were doing was lawful. But with hindsight, it is not supportable”. He rejected the claims of the Left that his office had created “numerous mishaps”. Court rulings cannot be predicted, said Stein.

Christian Gold of the Christian Democratic (CDU) Party commenting on the new council regulations said, “this is a good day for Bonn.” The rules demonstrate consistent action and bring legal security and clarity about the payment of childcare fees, he continued. It is good that the OGS after-school care is also included in the rules. Tim Achtermeyer from the Green Party now expects the city council to automatically reimburse all parents effected by this decision. “It is great for parents that we are a step further along the path towards a complete removal of kindergarten fees,” said Dörthe Ewald from the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Achim Schröder of the Liberal Party (FDP) welcomed the ruling but also added, “whoever makes use of childcare should also pay for it”.

(Original text: Ebba Hagenberg-Miliu / Translation: Caroline Payne)

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