29.03.2022

TWICE AS MANY BULGARIANS WILL BE ENTITLED TO SOCIAL BENEFITS

Bulgaria is about to leave in history the threshold of BGN 75 guaranteed monthly income, which for years distorts the social assistance system. From 2023, many more Bulgarians will be entitled to social benefits, because access to them will be tied to a much more adequate threshold - the poverty line. For 2022 it is set at BGN 413. In just one year, this is expected to double the number of people supported by the treasury - from 63,000 to 115,000 in 2023.

This is provided by amendments to the Law on Social Assistance published for public discussion. The changes are related to the regular criticism of our country by the EC that it does not guarantee adequate access to social assistance. The guaranteed minimum income over the years was literally frozen - for comparison, its amount in 2009 was BGN 65, and the threshold of BGN 75 was reached only in 2018. This inadequate amount affects the calculation of specific differentiated thresholds for access to aid, which are determined on the basis of the guaranteed minimum income and the corresponding coefficient.

In 2022, the coefficients were increased, but the amounts on which access to aid depends remain very low. All this over the years has led to a very large narrowing of the number of people eligible for assistance. The number of Bulgarians receiving monthly social benefits, for example, has decreased from 124,635 cases in 2005 to 23,702 in 2020, according to the reasons for the change in the Social Assistance Act. Thus, the policy of social assistance, instead of working to reduce the share of the poor in our country over the years, leads to the exact opposite - to increase it.

Apart from the abolition of the guaranteed minimum income, the bill contains other changes, some of which are related to increasing the rights of aid recipients, and others - to tighten control. For example, the unemployed who refuse to join employment programs will lose the right to benefits for a shorter period - 6 months instead of a year. At the same time, the state will have more rights to make deductions from the aid due, which is generally limited. From now on, it will be possible to deduct from the aid illegally received amounts for social assistance. The bill envisages another serious change - the budget of the Social Protection Fund will now be determined by the Minister of Social Affairs, instead of its managing board.