City parliament wants to scrap waiting periods for benefits and grants

People who have just moved to Zurich should not have to wait before they can get the city’s top-up to old-age and disability benefits or its education grants. The city parliament passed two motions against the city executive’s wishes.

City parliament (Gemeinderat) Whole city Social & health Diversity & integration Schools & children

A Karenzfrist is a waiting period: some city benefits are only available once you have lived in the city for a certain time. For the city’s education grants (Ausbildungsbeiträge), the motion says the requirement is currently two years of legal residence in Zurich. Waiting periods also apply to the Gemeindezuschüsse, the city’s top-up to the supplementary benefits (Ergänzungsleistungen) paid to low-income pensioners and people on disability insurance.

What the city parliament decided

ItemContentResult
Motion 2025/555No more waiting periods for the city’s benefit top-uppassed, 73 to 44
Motion 2025/556No more waiting periods for city education grantspassed, 74 to 44
Postulate 2025/559Report on all waiting periods for city servicespassed, 102 to 15

The city executive was only willing to accept the two motions as postulates, i.e. as a request to look into the matter. The movers refused; a motion obliges the city executive to draft a proposal.

The motions argue that waiting periods do not prevent unjustified claims but create “unnecessary hardship”. For education grants, safeguards are to stop other cantons and municipalities from exploiting the change, without penalising the people concerned.

Other decisions at the same session

  • The Jugendwohnnetz (Juwo) association gets CHF 309,500 a year for its social counselling in 2027–2030, instead of the CHF 225,900 proposed by the city executive (73 to 44).
  • An SVP postulate to stop using civil-defence shelters on school grounds for refugees was rejected by 15 votes to 102.
  • The city executive is to examine how to strengthen school social work in schools with many children from disadvantaged backgrounds (74 to 29).
  • An additional credit of CHF 3.363 million for 9 electric ambulances for the rescue service was approved (102 to 15).

Primary sources