by InTrieste
The regional government of Friuli Venezia Giulia has announced a substantial increase in financial support for families to offset the costs of childcare services, part of an ongoing initiative to support families and counter the region’s demographic decline.
Governor Massimiliano Fedriga, together with members of the Executive, approved new funding allocations for the 2024-2025 period, which includes significant contributions towards monthly fees for various early childhood education services. These services range from nurseries offering full-time or part-time attendance to home services, parent-child centers, play spaces, and experimental services.
“These are not measures against poverty, but initiatives aimed at assisting families and addressing our demographic challenges,” Governor Fedriga said. He explained that the reductions would benefit a wide range of families with one or more children and an ISEE (Equivalent Economic Situation Indicator) of up to 50,000 euros. “For example, a family with two young children could receive over a thousand euros per month towards nursery costs.”
The region has allocated over 31 million euros to fund these benefits. Specifically, 25.182 million euros (or 90% of the total) will come from the fee reduction fund, with the remainder sourced from the European Social Fund Plus (Fse+).
Families with one minor child and an ISEE of up to 50,000 euros will see a reduction in nursery fees to 310 euros per month for full-time attendance—an increase of 60 euros from previous amounts—and to 155 euros for part-time attendance, an increase of 30 euros. For parent-child centers, play spaces, and similar experimental services, the reduction is set at 155 euros for part-time attendance.
For families with two or more minor children, the reductions are more substantial: 510 euros per month for full-time attendance in nurseries and similar services, and 255 euros for part-time attendance. These amounts also apply to parent-child centers and play spaces.
The administration has approved a total of 60,504 applications for these benefits. The majority, 56,706, are for nursery services, predominantly for full-time attendance. Of these, 28,972 applications come from families with multiple children, and 27,060 from families with one child. Additionally, 3,409 applications have been approved for home educational services, again primarily for full-time attendance. For play spaces and parent-child centers, 389 applications have been approved for part-time attendance.
In anticipation of future needs, the administration has estimated the number of potentially approvable applications based on the capacity of available services: 13,155 for nurseries, 45 for home educational services, and 59 for play spaces and parent-child centers.
The financial requirements were calculated based on applications submitted by May 31 that were deemed admissible or are projected to be acceptable. The total estimated need for these services is nearly 30 million euros, with the majority allocated to nurseries, followed by home educational services, and play spaces-parent-child centers.
This initiative reflects Friuli Venezia Giulia’s commitment to supporting families and addressing demographic challenges through concrete, targeted financial assistance.
