Cheque Canguro activated: Help for parents — is the money enough?

Cheque Canguro activated: Help for parents — is the money enough?

Key question: Can €320,000 take real pressure off households in Mallorca — or is it just a drop in the ocean?

The Balearic government has introduced a new support measure for parents, officially named Cheque Canguro. A total of €320,000 has been allocated; households can apply for up to €4,000. The subsidy applies retroactively to actual childcare costs incurred between 1 January and 31 December 2025. Eligible are residents of the Balearic Islands who work full time. Priority is given to single parents and families with more than two children. Applications can be submitted online; the deadline is 30 June 2026 — payments will be made until the budget is exhausted.

In short: the scheme sounds promising and reassuring. But a quick look at the numbers raises questions. €320,000 divided by €4,000 would cover at most 80 families receiving the maximum amount. Allowing for lower individual grants increases that number but it remains limited. In a market like Palma, where the sound of babies crying echoes down the streets and young parents at the Mercat de l'Olivar compare childcare prices, a payment helps but only reaches a small circle, and similar discussions have accompanied housing aid such as Rental aid in the Balearic Islands: €9.3 million from November – who benefits, who is left out?.

Critical analysis: the conditions are restrictive. The requirement of full-time employment excludes many: part-time workers, self-employed people with fluctuating incomes and households relying on informal care arrangements are often left out. The retroactive coverage for 2025 is fair for those who already had expenses, but it requires documentation — invoices, contracts, bank receipts. For families who paid grandparents or neighbours in cash or settled small fees with babysitters, the bureaucracy is a real barrier.

What is rarely discussed publicly is the question of supply and quality of care. Financial help makes paying easier — it does not automatically create more licensed care places or reliable contracts for caregivers. In many neighbourhoods of Palma new mothers exchange recommendations like pearls: 'Call María, she watches the baby,' you hear on Passeig des Born between café chairs. But if caregiver María works off the books and has no social insurance, that remains an insecure network that policy can only dismantle with structural measures.

Everyday scene from Mallorca: on a mild morning a woman pushes a stroller along Plaça Major. She balances a shopping bag, two melons sticking out at the sides. Between the market stalls she discusses with a neighbour whether the €600 she pays monthly for a nanny could now be reimbursed. She works in a hotel in Cala Major, with shifts, overtime and little continuity. For her the cheque is not only about the amount but also about how straightforward the application is — during a lunch break at the market, not in endless administrative queues.

What is missing from the debate: an estimate of how many households in the Balearic Islands actually qualify and how great the need is for everyday, legal childcare, as detailed in analyses like Rent Subsidies Under Scrutiny: Help — But Who Really Benefits?. Also missing is a look at the caregivers’ side: what minimum standards and protections apply to the people providing care? Small subsidy budgets without binding labour standards can stabilise informal employment rather than regulate it.

Concrete solutions: first, the support should be broader — tiered payments based on income and care hours would target help better. Second: public funds should be paired with measures to formalise work: simple contract templates, local advisory centres in municipalities like Calvià, Sóller or Manacor and a hotline in Catalan and Spanish explaining required documents. Third: partnerships with existing daycares and social organisations so parents are not left to rely solely on private solutions. Fourth: a faster, low-paper verification process — many parents need money quickly, not months of decisions.

Practical suggestions for the islands: mobile advice centres at weekly markets (for example Mercat de l'Olivar or Inca market) could explain applications on site. Municipalities could link small grants to qualified childminders who register social security contributions. Training for caregiving staff, partly funded by the programme, would raise quality and build trust.

Conclusion: the Cheque Canguro is a step in the right direction. It signals that family childcare is a political issue. However, the sum is limited and the conditions selective. If the measure remains merely an emergency aid, its potential will fizzle out. A better approach would be a package: more budget, fewer hurdles, targeted formalisation of caregiving work and local contact points, and similar doubts have been expressed about other Balearic measures such as Up to €10,000 for First-Time Buyers: A Subsidy with a Question Mark. Otherwise the cheque remains a drop while parents in parks still have to figure out how to juggle work and strollers.