Czech families caring for a sick relative can miss out on state money in a confusing claim

A home visit sets the grade, and one grade higher can pay over 4 times as much a month.MPSVmpsv.gov.czCare allowance raised from 1 January 2026 (another site)Grades I and II rise — adult grade I from 880 to 1,300 CZK monthly — so the money a family wins or loses on a correct filing grew again.In the source’s words“Pro osoby starší 18 let ve stupni závislosti I se příspěvek navyšuje z 880 Kč na 1 300 Kč, ve stupni závislosti II z částky 4 900 Kč na 5 400 Kč.”Regulation · Guides describe the process as bureaucratic and opaque.Market checkycombinator.comFirst Czech market scan (another site)An early sweep that returned only advice articles and government pages, and documented the application, assessment and appeal as bureaucratic and opaque.Market check ·

Good for Someone who'd like to help families caring for a sick or elderly relative.

Category
Health
Entry
Easy
Verified

The opportunity

1/2 · Some pain

Families caring for a sick relative must win the state care allowance through an application, a home assessment and sometimes an appeal.Market checkycombinator.comFirst Czech market scan (another site)An early sweep that returned only advice articles and government pages, and documented the application, assessment and appeal as bureaucratic and opaque.Market check ·

  • 374,000 people drew the allowance in December 2024.ČSÚcsu.gov.czČSÚ — the care allowance in numbers (another site)374,000 people drew příspěvek na péči in December 2024, and 41.3bn CZK was paid out through it that year — the size of the pot families are navigating for.Statistic ·
  • The assessment sets one of four grades, and the grade sets the money.2 sourcesY Combinatorycombinator.comPříspěvek na péči (another site)The Czech care allowance itself — four dependency levels, raised again in 2024-25, and the money a family wins or loses on how well it files.Subsidy · MPSVmpsv.gov.czCare allowance raised from 1 January 2026 (another site)Grades I and II rise — adult grade I from 880 to 1,300 CZK monthly — so the money a family wins or loses on a correct filing grew again.In the source’s words“Pro osoby starší 18 let ve stupni závislosti I se příspěvek navyšuje z 880 Kč na 1 300 Kč, ve stupni závislosti II z částky 4 900 Kč na 5 400 Kč.”Regulation ·
  • The application, the assessment and the appeal are described as bureaucratic and opaque.Market checkycombinator.comFirst Czech market scan (another site)An early sweep that returned only advice articles and government pages, and documented the application, assessment and appeal as bureaucratic and opaque.Market check ·

Suggested solution

Build an online service that files a family's care-allowance claim, prepares them for the home visit and handles any appeal.

  1. Family. Today: Files the claim at the labour office. With the suggested solution: Has the service file the claim.
  2. Family. Today: Goes through the assessment that sets the grade. With the suggested solution: Is coached for the home visit first.
  3. Family. Today: Appeals a grade with a free adviser's help. With the suggested solution: Hands the appeal to the service.
  4. Who does this is not known. Today: How often a grade is appealed, and how often an appeal wins, is not known. With the suggested solution: Unknown: nothing on file counts appeals.

Not known: how often a grade is appealed, and how often an appeal wins.

Why now

0/3 · No deadline

A family on too low a grade can lose thousands of crowns a month, and the two lowest grades pay more since January 2026.MPSVmpsv.gov.czCare allowance raised from 1 January 2026 (another site)Grades I and II rise — adult grade I from 880 to 1,300 CZK monthly — so the money a family wins or loses on a correct filing grew again.In the source’s words“Pro osoby starší 18 let ve stupni závislosti I se příspěvek navyšuje z 880 Kč na 1 300 Kč, ve stupni závislosti II z částky 4 900 Kč na 5 400 Kč.”Regulation ·

  • Adults get 5,400 CZK monthly on the second grade, 1,300 on the lowest.MPSVmpsv.gov.czCare allowance raised from 1 January 2026 (another site)Grades I and II rise — adult grade I from 880 to 1,300 CZK monthly — so the money a family wins or loses on a correct filing grew again.In the source’s words“Pro osoby starší 18 let ve stupni závislosti I se příspěvek navyšuje z 880 Kč na 1 300 Kč, ve stupni závislosti II z částky 4 900 Kč na 5 400 Kč.”Regulation ·
  • Around 100,000 carers, mostly women, say they cannot work full-time because of care.European Commissioneconomy-finance.ec.europa.euEuropean Commission — 2026 Country Report for Czechia (another site)Around 100,000 Czech informal carers, mostly women, report being unable to work full-time because of care duties, and only 8.3 percent of public long-term-care spending goes to home care against an EU average of 28.8 percent.In the source’s words“In 2022, 60.2% of public long-term care spending was allocated to residential care (EU: 46.2%), while only 8.3% went to home care (terénní služby), far below the EU average of 28.8%”Complaint ·
  • Home care gets 8.3% of public long-term-care money; the EU average is 28.8%.European Commissioneconomy-finance.ec.europa.euEuropean Commission — 2026 Country Report for Czechia (another site)Around 100,000 Czech informal carers, mostly women, report being unable to work full-time because of care duties, and only 8.3 percent of public long-term-care spending goes to home care against an EU average of 28.8 percent.In the source’s words“In 2022, 60.2% of public long-term care spending was allocated to residential care (EU: 46.2%), while only 8.3% went to home care (terénní služby), far below the EU average of 28.8%”Complaint ·

Willing to pay

0/2 · No sign yet

No family is known to pay for this yet: the help on offer is free, though a higher grade is worth thousands a month.2 sourcesMarket checkdostupnyadvokat.czMarket scan — what a family can actually buy (another site)A second Czech sweep, this time for anything sold for money: an insurer's free calculator, free registered counselling that writes appeals, and law firms selling representation by the case — still nobody…Market check · MPSVmpsv.gov.czCare allowance raised from 1 January 2026 (another site)Grades I and II rise — adult grade I from 880 to 1,300 CZK monthly — so the money a family wins or loses on a correct filing grew again.In the source’s words“Pro osoby starší 18 let ve stupni závislosti I se příspěvek navyšuje z 880 Kč na 1 300 Kč, ve stupni závislosti II z částky 4 900 Kč na 5 400 Kč.”Regulation ·

  • An online law firm sells fixed-price consultations, but not the claim itself.Market checkdostupnyadvokat.czMarket scan — what a family can actually buy (another site)A second Czech sweep, this time for anything sold for money: an insurer's free calculator, free registered counselling that writes appeals, and law firms selling representation by the case — still nobody selling a family the claim itself.Market check ·
  • The state paid out 41.3bn CZK through the allowance in 2024.ČSÚcsu.gov.czČSÚ — the care allowance in numbers (another site)374,000 people drew příspěvek na péči in December 2024, and 41.3bn CZK was paid out through it that year — the size of the pot families are navigating for.Statistic ·
  • The ministry's €74.7M benefits IT framework of June 2026 buys none of this.TEDted.europa.euTED — MPSV 'IT delivery III' framework (~€74.7M) (another site)The ministry budgets tens of millions of euros a year for benefits back-office IT, while nothing is built on the side the citizen actually touches.Tender ·

Validated abroad

2/3 · Proven once

US start-ups already help family carers get paid from state programmes, and nobody sells that help in Czechia yet.2 sourcesY Combinatorycombinator.comOma Care (another site)A two-person YC W24 team enrolling US family caregivers into Medicaid programmes that pay them up to $28 an hour — the template for getting families money they are already owed.Company abroad · Market checkdostupnyadvokat.czMarket scan — what a family can actually buy (another site)A second Czech sweep, this time for anything sold for money: an insurer's free calculator, free registered counselling that writes appeals, and law firms selling representation by the case — still nobody…Market check ·

Where it works: US, GB — home market CZGBCZUS
  1. Oma Care (another site)Based in United States
  2. Givers (another site)Based in United States
  3. KareHero (another site)Based in United Kingdom

Market gap

2/2 · Open

The help a Czech family gets is free advice, and no company files, chases or appeals the claim for a fee.2 sourcesMarket checkpece.czMarket scan — who helps a Czech family claim (another site)Five Czech searches and an ARES sweep found free counselling and calculators only — pece.cz, the NRZP poradna, Rodinný průvodce — and no company that files, tracks or appeals a claim for a fee.Market check · Market checkdostupnyadvokat.czMarket scan — what a family can actually buy (another site)A second Czech sweep, this time for anything sold for money: an insurer's free calculator, free registered counselling that writes appeals, and law firms selling representation by the case — still nobody…Market check ·

New, selling this: nobody on file. Established, selling this: nobody on file. New, selling something nearby: Moravskoslezský kruh (since 2003), pece.cz (NN Životní pojišťovna). Established, selling something nearby: Rodinný průvodce (Centrum pro rodinu a sociální péči) (since 1993), Chytrá Péče (since 2007), Dostupný advokát (since 2021). No established player sells this here.

The space is still open

Execution difficulty

3/3 · Easy

Makes it easier

  • Nothing licences the work.
  • The job is coaching and paperwork rather than a system to plug into.
  • Families decide for themselves without a tender.

Makes it harder

  • Free advisers already write appeals for nothing.
  • No Czech family is yet known to pay for this help.

Suggested first moves

  1. Build a short guide that prepares a family for the home assessment that sets its relative's care-allowance grade.
  2. Contact the free carers' advice services and ask them to pass on the families whose claims they cannot carry through.
  3. Open each sales conversation with how much the allowance pays out and how much one grade is worth.