From June 1 next year, more people will enter the social welfare system and monthly benefit amounts will also increase. Now they will be calculated as 25 percent of the poverty line and in 2024 as 30 percent of the threshold, which is updated every year, writes pariteni.bg
For decades, the guaranteed minimum income, which will go down in history, has been used as a basis for access and for determining the amounts of benefits. What are the changes in the law on social assistance adopted a few days ago by the National Assembly?
The Ministry of Social Affairs estimates that more than 115,000 people will receive the monthly allowance in 2024, now it is 63,000, and also, due to the poverty line commitment, which will be BGN 504 next year, the disbursed funds will also increase.
“If in 2022 a person over 65 lives alone and the access limit was 115.5 levs, after June 1 this limit will be 176.4 levs, correspondingly this will also be the amount of the allowance monthly, if the person has no income.
Another example – if a person with permanently reduced working capacity – 70 and more than 70 percent of the access limit in 2022, the amount was BGN 103.5, then after the entry into force of the law, the limit of access will already be 157. BGN 5 and the amount of aid received accordingly.
So, if we compare BGN 103 with BGN 157, we will see this increase significantly, and in 2024 the benefits will be even higher given the increase in the poverty line for the next year and the correspondingly increased percentage above the poverty line by no less by 30%,” Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policy Nadia Klisurska told BNR.
The adoption of the changes to the law on social assistance was imperative both because they are foreseen as a condition of the second tranche that our country will request under the Recovery Plan, and because Bulgaria has received constant criticism for not having adequate support tools .
The statutory changes will also be adopted by June, easier access and milder restrictions are envisaged for people temporarily deprived of benefits.
