Since August 1, children in Södertälje's municipal schools receive a basic period of stay during free time, even when the guardian is on parental leave, at home, looking for work or on sick leave. The time applies after the end of the school day until 5 p.m. and during shorter school holidays.
What happened?
The Board of Education has decided on new rules for municipal after-school centres and recreation clubs. Previous differences based on guardians' employment are reduced by giving more children the same basic opportunity to participate. Applications are made through the municipality's existing e-service. The fee does not change and the municipality continues to apply the national fee cap. According to the municipality, a need for longer hours than the basic entitlement must be supported by documentation and applies to children whose guardians work or study.
Location
Södertälje, Stockholms län
Impact and significance
The change may affect families' everyday planning and children's access to social and educational activities after the school day. The municipality justifies the decision with safe, meaningful and social leisure time. The news, however, does not indicate how many more children are expected to apply, how staffing and facilities are affected or whether queues may arise. These issues must be followed in the implementation.
Background
The rules apply to municipal schools in Södertälje. It is not possible to assume from the page that the same conditions apply to independent schools or other municipalities. Operations manager Jenny Stanser highlights the importance of after-school centres for development and community. The statement describes the municipality's intention and is not a published impact study of the new decision.
Latest update
The rules already apply from 1 August 2026. Guardians should read the complete information about the application, fee, permit and certificate on the municipality's website. Individual decisions about place and length of stay are made by the responsible business and cannot be decided on the basis of this summary. This summary is based on the stated public source and describes the state of affairs when the WUA reviewed the material on 17 August 2026. It does not replace the authority, municipality or organizer's own practical information. If dates, times, conditions or execution have changed, the later information on the original page shall be used. Title and text have been editorially reworded to separate verifiable information from the source's own judgments. No data outside the cited material has been used to fill gaps, and the reader should follow the source links for full context.
Sources
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Reviewed: 2026-08-16. Independent editorial content. WUA Sverige is not affiliated with any political party.