Do you also always get sweaty when filling in forms, applications and questionnaires? Thankfully, not with nursing home benefits anymore. Thanks to the digitisation of sickness insurance, applications for sickness benefit are now mostly handled electronically and without unnecessary paperwork. We have prepared a clear and easy-to-understand step-by-step guide on how to proceed, when you are entitled to sick pay and what to look out for.
First of all, it is a good idea to know when you can apply for nursing benefits. The law sets out the conditions that must be met for it to be paid. The basic ones are the employee’s participation in sickness insurance and the sick person’s stay at home. If the patient’s condition necessitates a stay in hospital, the nursing allowance could not (or would cease to) be paid. If you are self-employed, then you are not entitled to ordinary short-term care even if you pay sickness insurance. Nor are you entitled to sick pay if you are on sick leave yourself in the first 14 days .
Our lawyers will provide you with qualified advice and assistance within two working days. And you don’t even have to go anywhere, we handle everything online.
Attendance allowance is most often used in the context of caring for offspring, but it can be used for any member of the household and does not have to be a relative. However, the law is only concerned with human members of the household, so if you have a sick Mick, Azor or Dash, you will unfortunately not be successful in claiming nursing benefits. However, your prospective patient must demonstrably live in the same household as you and their condition should be severe enough to require the care of someone else (these conditions may not be met if a parent is caring for a child under 10).
Tip: We have covered the various options for benefits and help from the state in caring for your loved ones in a separate article.
Attendance allowance is most often used for caring for offspring, but it can also be used for caring for any member of the household – and it doesn’t have to be a relative.
However, the law only has human members of the household in mind. Unfortunately, if your Mick, Azor or Daisy falls ill, you will not be able to claim nursing home care. The person being treated must be shown to be living in the same household as you and their health must require personal care from another person. These conditions are not required if a child under 10 is being cared for by a parent.
Nursing claims are handled fully electronically through the eSick Leave (e-Sick Leave) system. This is a major difference from earlier years when paper forms were used.
The procedure is as follows:
The payment of the sickness benefit is then made directly by the CSSA.
If you are interested in receiving nursing care, a doctor must always decide on the need for care. Not all parents are enthusiastic about having to “drag their child to the doctors” with only a slight cold. In this case, it’s more likely that other solutions – such as working from home, getting help from grandparents, or taking a vacation – are in order.
However, if the doctor recognises that the condition requires care, he or she will issue an electronic decision on the need for treatment, which will be automatically entered into the system.
Once the need for care has ended, the doctor enters this electronically again. The employee no longer submits anything or fills in any forms. The information is again automatically transferred to the CSSA system and the employer is informed of the end of care electronically.
If a school or day-care centre for a child under 10 years of age is closed (for example, because of an accident, epidemic or emergency measure), the child is also entitled to nursing allowance, even if he or she is not ill.
In 2026, schools usually:
The employee informs the employer, who sends the information electronically to the CSSA. Paper pick-up of forms is now rather rare.
Tip: We have discussed the nursing and sick pay to which the self-employed are entitled in a separate article.
Long-term care benefits allow you to care for a family member who has been discharged from hospital (after at least seven days’ hospitalisation) and their doctor has decided that full-time care is necessary for more than 30 days. This could be a long-term illness of a young child, for example, but it could also be a serious post-accident condition of an adult that requires care from others, such as attendance by social care workers or post-accident rehabilitation, etc. However, these are usually relatively sudden situations and this benefit will allow the family to be able to care for the relative and also to have time to consider what to do next (working with a care facility, applying for a care allowance under the Social Services Act, etc.).
In order to qualify for the allowance, it is necessary either to be related to the sick person, or to be a partner or companion, or to live in the same household as the sick person.
To qualify you must:
For employees, you must have been covered by sickness insurance for at least 90 days in the last 4 months.
For self-employed workers, voluntary participation in sickness insurance must have been completed for at least 3 months immediately before the start of long-term care. The self-employed person must also not be self-employed while receiving the benefit.
The decision on the need for long-term care is issued electronically by the hospital where the patient was hospitalised. At the same time, the person being treated (if an adult) must consent to the care.
The employee informs the employer, who sends the documents electronically to the ČSSZ. Self-employed persons communicate directly with their district social security administration, usually also electronically.
If you are unclear about your entitlement to nursing benefits, a denial of benefits or a dispute with your employer, it may be advisable to contact a specialist. Early legal advice can save you not only money but also unnecessary stress.
Our attorneys can provide skilled assistance online and in person to help you navigate your rights and responsibilities related to your nursing home benefits.
Attendance allowance is a sickness insurance benefit for employees who must personally care for a sick household member or child under the age of 10, or stay at home when school or daycare is closed, with the basic requirements of participation in sickness insurance and care at home; in 2026, the application for sick pay is mainly handled electronically through the eSick leave system, where the doctor or school issues an electronic decision, the employee does not fill in any paper forms and only informs the employer, who completes the data and sends it to the Czech Social Security Administration, which pays the benefit, while the end of treatment is also recorded electronically; nursing allowance can be paid not only for a child but also for another member of the joint household, but not for pets, while self-employed persons are not entitled to regular short-term nursing allowance but can, subject to the legal conditions, receive long-term nursing allowance, which allows up to 90 days of care for a close person after a minimum seven-day hospitalisation, while communication with the Social Security Agency is also mainly electronic.
Yes, it is possible to change carers, even repeatedly, if the legal conditions are met. Each parent or authorised carer must be covered by sickness insurance and meet the conditions for entitlement to sickness benefit. In 2026, the replacement of carers will also be handled electronically – the doctor or school will record the change in the system and the employers of the individual carers will fill in the necessary data for the CSSA.
Yes, part-time work is not a bar to entitlement to sick pay. If an employee has more than one job in which he/she is covered by sickness insurance, the entitlement to sick pay is assessed separately for each job. In practice, this means that the employee must inform all his employers and each of them communicates electronically with the CSSA regarding the relevant part of the benefit.
An employer cannot prohibit or force an employee to take leave in lieu of sick pay. It is the doctor, the school and then the CSSA who decide on entitlement, not the employer. If your employer refuses to cooperate or disputes your absence, it is advisable to address the situation in writing and, if necessary, contact the Labour Inspectorate or a solicitor.
In general, the right to receive nursing allowance arises if the employee personally cares for the sick person for a full day and cannot work at the same time. If you agree with your employer to work from home and actually do the work, you are not usually entitled to sick pay. However, each case must be assessed on an individual basis, taking into account the extent of the work and the actual need for care.
If the Social Security Agency does not grant you the benefit or pays you the wrong amount, you have the right to object to the decision. The time limit and procedure are set out in the information provided by the CSSA with the decision. In such a situation, it is worth having professional legal advice to help you check that you meet the conditions, prepare your objections and improve your chances of a successful award.
Our team of experienced attorneys will help you solve any legal issue. Within 24 hours we’ll evaluate your situation and suggest a step-by-step solution, including all costs. The price for this proposal is only CZK 690, and this is refunded to you when you order service from us.
Ondřej is the attorney who came up with the idea of providing legal services online. He's been earning his living through legal services for more than 10 years. He especially likes to help clients who may have given up hope in solving their legal issues at work, for example with real estate transfers or copyright licenses.
In person and online. Just choose the appropriate service or opt for an independent consultation when you are unsure.
