Who will take care of the child while the parents are at work? Thousands of Ukrainian families, especially young mothers who cannot afford to sit on maternity leave for years, are concerned with this issue every day. In search of a solution, many come across the state program “municipal babysitter” – an initiative that promises partial compensation for child care costs. But there are many pitfalls between promises and reality. When the state offers support to families with young children, behind the scenes of good intentions there is often a layer of legal and procedural issues.
Lawyers of the “Repeshko and Partners” Bar Association commented on how the legal mechanism for regulating the “municipal nanny” program works, who has the right to be a nanny and what compensation is for parents, how its amount is calculated and what needs to be taken into account when concluding an agreement with a nanny.
The “municipal nanny” program has been operating since 2019. According to the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, as of the beginning of March 2025, 2017 families received this service. Note that the reimbursement of the cost of the “municipal nanny” service is a monthly targeted compensation payment to the applicant of the “municipal nanny” service for taking care of a child during the month. That is, this is a kind of Mary Poppins from the state.
Currently, during the period of martial law and for three months after its termination or cancellation, the services of a municipal nanny can be obtained by citizens of Ukraine, foreigners and stateless persons who are parents, guardians of a child, on legal grounds, live in the territory of Ukraine and take care of the following categories of children:
- children under 3 years of age of internally displaced persons (who do not have serious illnesses);
- a child with a disability under the age of six, a child under the age of six suffering from severe perinatal damage to the nervous system, severe congenital malformations, rare orphan diseases, oncological, oncohematological diseases, cerebral palsy, severe mental disorders, diabetes mellitus type I (insulin-dependent), acute or chronic kidney diseases of the IV degree, a child under the age of six who has received a severe injury, needs an organ transplant, needs palliative care, who has not been diagnosed with a disability;
- a child under the age of six, if one of the parents or guardians is a person with a disability of group I or II;
- a child under the age of three, if one of the parents or guardians is an internally displaced person;
- a child under six years of age who, together with his parents, guardians, lives in the territory of an administrative-territorial unit, where it is impossible to ensure, in accordance with the decisions of military administrations and local self-government bodies, the functioning of preschool education institutions, necessary for the implementation of state guarantees of ensuring a safe educational process in conditions of martial law, a state of emergency or a state of emergency (special period). This is, for example, the territories of Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Sumy and Chernihiv regions).
It is worth knowing that “municipal nanny” cannot be relatives of the first degree of consanguinity. In addition, a “municipal nanny” who is an individual entrepreneur (KVED 97.00 and/or KVED 88.91), then can simultaneously provide care for no more than three children from the same or different families at the address specified by the employee, or at one of the children’s residential addresses with the written consent of the parents of all children, as specified in the child care agreement.
If it is a legal entity (KVED 78.20 and/or KVED 85.10), then can provide care for no more than six children from the same or different families at the same time at the address specified by the municipal nanny, or at one of the children’s residential addresses with the written consent of the parents of all children, as stated in the contract, taking into account the fact that six children are cared for by two employees. At the same time, the municipal babysitter, which is a legal entity, is obliged to organize and ensure unimpeded access of children to the shelter;
Reimbursement of the cost of the “municipal nanny” childcare service is assigned to one of the parents, guardians of the child (hereinafter referred to as the applicant). An applicant who is an internally displaced person or who lives in the territory of an administrative-territorial unit where it is impossible to ensure the functioning of preschool education institutions, has the right to the appointment and reimbursement of the cost of the “municipal nanny” childcare service in the event that the child’s parents, guardians meet at least one of the following requirements:
- work for hire under the terms of an employment contract (contract) or under other conditions stipulated by law;
- provide themselves with work independently (as an individual entrepreneur);
- carry out retraining or advanced training;
- are registered as unemployed for no more than six months;
- participate in public works;
- participate in the measures necessary to ensure the defense of Ukraine, protect the safety of the population and the interests of the state in connection with the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
At the same time, the applicant, who is an internally displaced person or who lives in the territory of an administrative-territorial unit where it is impossible to ensure the functioning of preschool education institutions, loses the right to reimbursement of the cost of the “municipal nanny” childcare service in the event of:
- registration by one of the parents, guardians of the child of a leave to care for the child until the child reaches the age of three,
- termination of employment or self-employment by one of them,
- one of them being registered as unemployed for more than six months,
- completion of retraining or professional development
- restoration of the functioning of preschool education institutions on the territory of the administrative-territorial unit where the applicant lives;
It should be emphasized that reimbursement of the cost of the “municipal nanny” child care service is not awarded to parents who:
- are foster parents, adoptive parents, if they receive financial support in accordance with the law,
- are on leave to care for a child until he reaches the age of three (except for parents, one of whom is a person with a disability of the I or II group or who cares for a child with a disability, a child with severe perinatal damage to the nervous system, severe congenital malformations, rare orphan diseases, oncological, oncohematological diseases, cerebral palsy, severe mental disorders, type I diabetes (insulin-dependent), acute or chronic kidney diseases of the IV degree, a child under the age of six who received a serious injury, needs an organ transplant, needs palliative care, who has not been diagnosed with a disability);
Reimbursement of the cost of the “municipal nanny” child care service is assigned for the period of care for the child specified in the contract, but not more than until the child reaches the age of three or six, respectively.
Reimbursement of the cost of the “municipal nanny” child care service is carried out at the expense of the state budget, international technical assistance, as well as other sources not prohibited by law. At the same time, the contract is concluded in writing between the applicant for the “municipal nanny” service and the municipal nanny.
The application, together with the documents necessary to receive compensation for this service, is accepted from the applicants by the local structural units for the social protection of the population only if they are sent by mail or in electronic form (through the official website of the Ministry of Social Policy, the information systems of executive authorities and local self-government bodies integrated with it, or the Unified state web portal of electronic services).
The payment of compensation for the “municipal nanny” service is carried out monthly on the basis of the documents submitted by the applicant for the service confirming the provision of child care (the certificate of the service provided and the number of hours per month of such care, as well as the cost of paying the municipal nanny.
Compensation for the service is paid to its recipient in an amount determined by calculating 100 percent of the minimum wage (currently UAH 8,000) at the hourly rate established on January 1 of the corresponding year for 1 hour of care, but no more than 165 hours per month for each child cared for by a municipal nanny.
We note that the documents that must be submitted to receive the “municipal nanny” service include:
- application for service compensation;
- an application for the transfer of funds to compensate for the service, indicating the account in a bank institution;
- a copy of the contract between the applicant for the service and the municipal nanny;
- documents confirming the costs of paying a municipal babysitter (check, settlement receipt, bank account statement);
- a copy of the child’s birth certificate;
- a copy of the applicant’s passport for receiving the service with data on the surname, first name and patronymic, date of issue and place of registration;
- a copy of a document certifying residence on the territory of Ukraine (for a foreigner and a stateless person);
- a copy of the document on the assignment of the registration number of the taxpayer’s registration card (except for individuals who, due to their religious beliefs, refuse to accept the registration number of the taxpayer’s registration card, have officially notified the relevant supervisory authority and have a note about it in the passport) of the applicant for service compensation;
- a copy of the decision of the district, district in Kyiv and Sevastopol state administration, the executive body of the city, district in the city (if it is formed) council, village, settlement council of the united territorial community or the court on establishing guardianship (in the case of guardianship over a child);
- a copy of the certificate of the medical and social expert commission on establishing a disability group (for persons with disabilities);
- a copy of the child’s illness certificate for severe perinatal damage to the nervous system, severe congenital malformation, rare orphan disease, oncological, oncohematological disease, cerebral palsy, severe mental disorder, type I diabetes (insulin-dependent), acute or chronic kidney disease of the IV degree, stating that the child received a severe injury, needs an organ transplant, needs palliative care (if necessary);
- a copy of the medical opinion of the medical and advisory commission about the child’s disability (for children with disabilities).
If you have been denied compensation for the “municipal nanny” service, you can appeal this in court.
It is clear that this program is not a global solution to the problem of a woman’s opportunities after the birth of a child professionally, but at least it gives hope for support to those who find themselves in extremely difficult life circumstances at the moment.
