How to support families in the face of the extraordinary burdens imposed by the closure of schools? There are several directions in which the Government is thinking of moving, even if the final decisions have not yet been taken. The Minister of the Family Elena Bonetti, especially proposed to introduce a baby sitter voucher and to recognize the right to take time off work to provide for children to the spouses of healthcare workers involved in the coronavirus emergency.
But we are also thinking about a extraordinary leave for employees, different from parental leave which would be too expensive and sick leave which could create problems in case of accumulation with other days of absence. For self-employed workers, the idea that seems to be gaining ground is that of vouchers to pay babysitters, but government decisions still need a few days.
The reality, until last year the babysitter voucher already existed, but then it was shelved by the Lega-M5S government, which did not refinance it with the 2019 budget law.
In detail, the measure guaranteed a maximum contribution of 600 euros per month for working mothers (also autonomous since 2016), which can be requested within 11 months following the end of maternity leave. The only condition was waive parental leave, in whole or in part. The money could be spent as babysitting vouchers, but also to pay for children's fees nursery schools.
Initially introduced on an experimental basis for the period 2013-2015, the babysitter voucher was then refinanced from year to year. In the end, however, the yellow-green executive - in an attempt to find coverage for the budget law of quota 100 and the basic income - decided not to renew this form of support, which therefore last year could have ended spend, but no longer require.
Instead, reinforcements arrive immediately in hospitals. In the Council of Ministers on Friday evening the Government has decreed an immediate allocation of 600 million euros, with the intention of bringing something like 20 professionals into the health system. Therefore, new hospital doctors, family doctors, on-call doctors and even nurses will arrive in the next few days to deal with the coronavirus.
The Legislative Decree will therefore be an unprecedented turning point for the health system, and with regard to the structures, the Regions will be able to "activate, also in derogation of the authorization and accreditation requirements, health areas, including temporary ones, both inside and outside hospitalization, treatment, reception and assistance facilities, public and private, for the management of the Covid-19 emergency".
