In addition to a possible disability pension, special benefits for the disabled are supposed to relieve the disabled. When it is not enough, social benefits should be the next support.
A disabled card carries some benefits. The benefits for holders of TP, ZTP and ZTP/P cards can be found at the end of the article, or you can apply for them jump straight.
There are two types of special benefits for the disabled: a mobility allowance and a special aid allowance – the allowance for a special aid also includes a motor vehicle or home improvement allowance.
Even in 2024, the extension of the mobility allowance, which was introduced during the covid period, remains (still temporary). It applies to people dependent on assisted breathing devices. This extension is to last until the end of 2024.
Mobility allowance: who gets it and how much?
The amount of the mobility allowance is 900 crowns per month. By default, it is intended for people with a handicap who are transported somewhere more regularly or have themselves transported.
These are, for example, trips to work or school, where family members drive you or where you pay for transportation. Entitlement to the benefit is also granted to children over one year of age, for minors the application is submitted by legal representatives.
An affidavit is sufficient to prove that a person is regularly transported somewhere or has himself transported.
Only people with a ZTP or ZTP/P disability card, i.e. particularly severely disabled persons or particularly severely disabled persons with a guide, are entitled to the allowance.
A person who is provided residential social services according to the Social Services Act in a home for persons with disabilities, in a home for the elderly, in a home with a special regime or in a medical institution of institutional care does not usually receive the allowance.
But if you go somewhere regularly, you can definitely apply – the office can make an exception “for reasons worthy of special attention”. However, it is then necessary to prove the journey with tickets or receipts, an affidavit is no longer sufficient.
The Czech Social Security Administration pays roughly 270,000 monthly mobility allowances.
Temporary mobility allowance for people with breathing problems
A special mobility allowance for people who use a medical device for long-term home oxygen therapy or a medical device for home pulmonary artificial ventilation for an entire calendar month was introduced as a temporary measure in 2022.
It was a reaction to the sharp rise in electricity prices: the devices in question cannot be simply turned off and their operation cannot be saved. Their users found themselves in difficulties due to energy prices and had to repeatedly ask for help in financial need.
The amount of this type of mobility allowance is 2,900 crowns per monthit is necessary to provide the regional labor office with a certificate from the health insurance company for the application.
How to apply for a mobility allowance?
If you have a data box, a recognized electronic signature or a citizen identity (such as a bank identity), you can apply for a mobility allowance online on the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communicationsotherwise you can submit the completed form by post or in person at the regional branch of the employment office.
The benefit is paid retroactively. This means that you can wait for it on your account until the end of the calendar month following the month for which it belongs. Alternatively, it is possible to have the allowance paid only once every three calendar months.
Allowance for a special aid
A second benefit that moderates the financial impact of disability is the special aid allowance. In contrast to the mobility allowance, which is paid repeatedly, the special aid allowance is a one-time benefit. The Social Security Administration pays around five hundred of them per month.
The allowance for a special aid is intended for people whose disability – a severe defect of the supporting or locomotor system or a severe hearing or visual disability of a long-term nature – lasts or, according to doctors, will last more than a year.
You can find the exact list of disabilities for which a person is entitled to a special aid allowance in the annex to the law on the provision of benefits to persons with disabilities.
How to apply for special aid allowance?
For most aids, the person applying or being applied for must be over one year old. For applications relating to a motor vehicle, stair climber, lifting platforms, stair seats, ceiling lifting systems or apartment modifications, the applicant or the person for whom the allowance is requested must be over three years old. The authority will reimburse the acquisition of a guide dog only for applicants aged fifteen and over.
You can apply for allowance for a special aid, including allowance for a motor vehicle online on the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. On the same page, you will also find a form to fill out and print if you want to apply in person at the regional branch of the employment office.
The allowance for a special aid can still be applied for twelve months after its acquisition. It is paid until the end of the month following the month in which the benefit was granted.
What can the allowance for a special aid be used for?
The grant is used to purchase aids that will improve a person’s basic self-sufficiency or help them to work, to prepare for a future profession, to obtain information, for education or contact with the environment.
The contribution can be obtained, for example, for stair platforms, stair seats, lifting systems, camera magnifiers, special car modifications, a digital reading device or barrier-free adaptation of an apartment. A motor vehicle or a guide dog can also be a special aid.
The allowance for a special aid is not provided for medical devices that are partially or fully covered by the health insurance company, or for those that the health insurance company lent to the applicant.
The amount of the contribution varies according to the price of the device. For aid worth less than ten thousand crowns, the contribution is usually granted only when the income of the applicant and the persons assessed together with him does not reach eight times the subsistence minimum. However, exceptions can be made, especially when a person requests such “cheaper” tools more often. The applicant’s participation is set at one thousand crowns.
How much is the special aid allowance in 2024?
Co-payment is generally a condition of the benefit: the claimant always has to pay something himself. The labor office will contribute to aids costing more than 10,000 crowns a maximum of 350 thousand crowns. Only for an inclined or vertical lifting platform can the contribution be higher: up to 500 thousand crowns. Motor vehicle allowances are specifically calculated.
Car allowance
As part of the grant for a special aid, you can also apply for a grant for the purchase of a motor vehicle. You are entitled if you repeatedly transport yourself somewhere, are able to drive a motor vehicle or are able to be transported.
However, the circle of eligible people is narrower. It includes only people with a severe defect of the supporting and locomotor system, people with severe or profound mental retardation and, since last year, people with an autistic disorder with severe functional disability, with repeated serious and objectively proven episodes of autoaggression or heteroaggression that persist despite established treatment.
Car allowance is minimum 100 thousand, maximum 200 thousand crowns. The amount of the contribution is derived from the quarterly income of the applicant or the members of the jointly assessed household. The income for the calendar quarter is compared with the amount of the subsistence minimum. In 2024, for example, for a family of two adults and two preschoolers, this is 13,470 crowns. If the combined income of the family is 70 thousand per month, it is 210 thousand per quarter, which is less than 16 times their living wage. So they will receive 200 thousand crowns, as the table shows:
A multiple of the living wage
Contribution
≤ 16
200,000 CZK
16–17
180,000 CZK
17–18
160,000 CZK
18–19
140,000 CZK
19–20
120,000 CZK
> 20
CZK 100,000
After the application is submitted, the health status of the applicant should be assessed by a medical examiner of the Social Security Administration.
If the officials reject your application or you are not satisfied with the amount of the allowance, you can appeal the decision. You have fifteen days from the delivery of the decision to file an appeal. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs decides on the outcome of the appeal.
Gabriel Pleska
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2023-12-13 04:00:00
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