Bern Raises Its Kita Fees, But Not for Everyone

The Reclassification: an Age Boundary Becomes a Tariff Jump

The City of Bern publishes two tariff sheets: the old one, in force since 1 October 2023, and the new one, in force from 1 August 2026. Compare them directly and the biggest jump becomes obvious immediately, not for children who already counted as infant or toddler before, but for those who fall right between the two age bands.

For children who already counted as an infant before 1 August (3 to 12 months), the jump stays comparatively moderate at +7.5 percent, because their age band is simply extended to 18 months. For children aged 18 months up to kindergarten entry it is +5 percent. The biggest jump hits only children aged 12 to 18 months: they counted as a toddler until 31 July 2026 (CHF 138 a day) and count as an infant from 1 August (CHF 172 a day), +24.6 percent on a single cut-off date.

What the Childcare Voucher Absorbs, and What It Does Not

The tariff jump is only one side. On the same cut-off date, the partial revision of the cantonal ordinance on financing out-of-home childcare takes effect, and it moves the childcare vouchers in the same direction as the tariffs, for the critical age group even further.

Source: City of Bern, “Änderungen bei den Betreuungsgutscheinen per 1. August 2026”, retrieved 28.07.2026.

For the 12-to-18-month age group this means: the gross tariff rises by CHF 34 a day, the maximum subsidy by CHF 57.50. A family with full voucher entitlement therefore pays less for that child after 1 August, not more. Between a qualifying income of CHF 49,000 and CHF 170,000 the voucher is tapered off, so the offset shrinks as income rises. Above CHF 170,000 it disappears entirely, and above CHF 140,000 there is no municipal supplement either. The 24.6 percent jump described in this study therefore does not hit every Bern family, but those who pay the full tariff.

One exception remains: the City of Bern still pays its municipal infant supplement of up to CHF 20 a day only for children up to 12 months. The 18-month boundary applies to the tariff and to the cantonal voucher, but not to that municipal supplement.

What a Family Without Voucher Entitlement Pays

The City of Bern itself converts its day tariffs into monthly amounts: 20 day-rates per month at full-time attendance, a convention that Zurich and Basel-City also use on their official pages. On this basis, it is possible to show what three typical two-child families pay more from 1 August if they carry the full tariff, that is, if a qualifying income above CHF 170,000 leaves them without a childcare voucher.

The reclassification shows up most clearly in such a family's budget: with one child aged 12 to 18 months and one older toddler, it paid CHF 5,520 a month for both Kita places until the end of July, because both children counted as toddlers. From 1 August it becomes CHF 6,340, because the younger child slides into the pricier infant tariff. CHF 820 more a month, CHF 9,840 more a year, without a single hour of care changing.

Bern in City Comparison: No Canton Costs Three Times as Much

Comparing Kita prices directly between Swiss cities is tricky: age bands, subsidy models and conversion conventions differ. The one genuinely clean comparison exists where both cities publish the same figure, the official Maximalpreis for a full-time place, and apply the same days-per-month convention.

BernBasel-City

The result disproves the idea that other cities cost a multiple of Bern. For children aged 18 months and up, Basel-City is only 4.6 percent above the new Bern tariff, for infants it is 15.8 percent, clearly more, but nowhere near threefold. Bern's increase even narrows this gap slightly, moving closer to its neighbouring cities' tariffs.

Switzerland in OECD Comparison

Bern's tariff increase is a local story, but it fits a national picture. For every member country, the OECD calculates how much a dual-earner couple (both at 100 percent of average wage) spends net, that is after subsidies and tax relief, on a full-time Kita place for two children aged 2 and 3, measured against that country's own average wage.

Switzerland leads every European country in this measure: 28 percent of average wage in 2023, more than the Netherlands (26%) or the UK (25%), and far more than Germany (1%) or Italy (0%). Worldwide only the US (40%) and New Zealand (35%) rank higher, an addition often missing from the public debate when only the US is named. Important for context: for a couple with unequal earnings (100 to 67 percent), Switzerland (19%) is no longer Europe's top spot, the Netherlands (21%) and the UK (25%) rank above it. The result depends heavily on the family model chosen, and this percentage is its own separate metric, never to be mixed with the Bern CHF-per-day figures above.

Numbers to Quote

Five citable, source-attributed sentences for coverage:

Kita Increase or Legal Alternative

The City of Bern's reform touches only its own municipal Kita tariffs. A legally employed nanny's market wage depends on entirely different variables, and stays untouched by the reform.

Bern officially raises its Kita tariffs by 5 to 7.5 percent. For children aged 12 to 18 months it is 24.6 percent, not because care gets more expensive, but because the city moves the age boundary. Anyone drawing a childcare voucher will barely notice. Anyone without one carries the increase alone.

Surprising Findings

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