23.11.2022

IT WAS AGREED THAT SOCIAL BENEFITS SHOULD BE TIED TO THE POVERTY LINE

The Parliament adopted in the first reading amendments to the Law on Social Assistance introduced by the Council of Ministers with 106 votes "for" and 23 "abstentions". The amendments provide that social benefits will be determined based on the amount of the poverty line for the relevant year, determined by a decree of the Council of Ministers. Currently, social benefits are determined on the basis of a guaranteed minimum income. The amendments are proposed to take effect from 1 June 2023.

Currently, the guaranteed minimum income, on which all social payments and benefits are based, has been BGN 75 for many years. Next year the poverty line will rise by 22 percent compared to the poverty line we have now. The normative act has been adopted and it has immediate effect from January 1, 2023.

A new type of increased support for disabled people under the Disability Act will come in automatically from 1 January 2023, because there benefits are tied to the official poverty line.

As for the Law on Social Assistance, since last year actions were taken, with which, despite the fact that the guaranteed minimum income was not changed and is BGN 75, correction coefficients were adopted, which in practice tied access to social assistance to a percentage of the current line of poverty, which for this year is 413 BGN.