03.01.2023

HOW WILL SOCIAL BENEFITS RISE FROM THIS YEAR

From June 1, 2023, more people will enter the social assistance system, and the amounts of monthly benefits will also increase. They will now be calculated as 25 percent of the poverty line, and in 2024 as 30 percent of the threshold, which is updated annually.

For decades, the Guaranteed Minimum Income, which will remain in history, has been used as a basis for access and for determining the amounts of benefits. What are the changes in the Social Assistance Act adopted a few days ago by the National Assembly?

The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy calculates that in 2024 over 115 thousand people will receive monthly benefits, now they are 63 thousand, and in addition, because of the commitment to the poverty line, which this year is already 504 BGN, they are also increasing disbursed funds.

"If in 2022 a person over 65 lives alone and the limit for access was BGN 115.50, then after June 1, 2023, this limit will be BGN 176.40, correspondingly, this will be the amount of the monthly allowance if the person has no income.

Another example - if a person with a permanently reduced ability to work - 70 and over 70 percent of the access limit in 2022, the amount was BGN 103.50, then after the law comes into force the access limit will already be BGN 157.50 and the amount of aid received accordingly. So, if we compare BGN 103 to BGN 157, we will see this significant increase, and in 2024 the benefits will be even higher in view of the increased poverty line for this year and the correspondingly increased percentage to the poverty line no more a little less than 30%," explained Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policy Nadiya Klisurska to BNR.

The adoption of the changes in the law on social assistance was imperative both because it is stipulated as conditions under the second tranche that our country will request under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan and because Bulgaria received regular criticism that it does not have adequate support tools. By June, the changes in the by-laws will also be adopted, easier access and gentler restrictions are foreseen for people temporarily deprived of benefits.