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In Lithuania, there are various types of assistance to the population that can be combined with each other: support in municipalities, social security benefits paid by Sodra in the event of job loss, and temporary support due to a pandemic.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the economic difficulties it has caused, support to municipalities has increased, while the conditions for granting it have been eased, but most of the changes are permanent. We invite you to discover what help residents can ask for if they lack income or lose their job.
The Ministry of Social Security and Labor informs what support belongs to the poor.
Social benefit.
Social benefit for starting work after a period of unemployment.
Heating compensation.
Hot water compensation.
Compensation for drinking water.
Greater children’s money.
Social housing.
Compensation for home rental.
What support is available in case of redundancy?
Social security unemployment benefits.
Temporary job search assignment.
Long-term employment benefits.
Cash social assistance
When a person is in financial difficulties, they can apply for social assistance in cash to their municipality: social benefits, compensation for heating, hot and drinking water, and if the private person’s home is renovated under a modernization program, they are also reimbursed credit and interest payments. This support has increased and the conditions for obtaining it have been eased during quarantine and emergency situations, but most of the new provisions remain in force.
SOCIAL BENEFIT
When you belong As of June 1, the benefit is available if the average monthly income per person does not exceed 137.5 euros. When calculating the average income, the child’s money and 20-40 percent of salary (depending on the composition of the family and the number of children) are not included, and 20 to 40 percent are not included. Unemployment benefits or temporary job search are paid to the unemployed.
Estimated earnings will also exclude the € 200 one-time benefit that retirees and people with disabilities will receive in August.
These solutions aim to allow more people to receive support.
Another innovation that will expand the circle of people who can receive monetary social assistance is that the applicant’s property will not be evaluated for 6 months after the emergency and the end of the quarantine. Until now, the procedure was that if a person has assets that exceed a certain threshold, the support could not belong to him.
At the end of these 6 months, a permanent provision will come into effect, according to which the property will not be valued for 3 months for those who apply for social benefits for the first time or 2 years after the last receipt of support. The goal is to help people facing financial challenges more quickly and effectively.
What size. Since June, social benefits have increased. The benefit a person or family receives in each case depends on the income they receive, the composition of the family, and the amount of state-supported income that is applied.
For single residents, the amount of social benefits will change every six months: initially they will receive more, then less. This encourages the person to take the long-term initiative and earn an income for himself.
When more than one person lives together, the benefit will be the same for every month.
© SADM photo
SOCIAL BENEFITS FOR STARTING WORK AFTER UNEMPLOYMENT
Residents can receive social benefits even when they start working after a period of unemployment. This measure is used to encourage beneficiaries to enter the labor market: wages are often not very high when they start working, so support is still needed.
In total, the benefit can be paid for 12 months after starting work, but it decreases over time: in the first 3 months it reaches 100%. The amount of the social benefit paid in the last six months before employment, 80% in 4-6 months and 50% in the remaining 6 months. social benefits.
Prerequisites: the person must have been registered with the Employment Service for half a year before employment, must be paid at least the minimum wage or the hourly minimum wage must be applied, must have received social benefits for at least one month in the last three months before employment.
© SADM photo
Compensation for heating and hot and drinking water.
In evaluating whether a person or family is entitled to compensation for heating and water, the available assets were previously taken into account. However, 6 months after the emergency and quarantine revocation, the property will no longer be valued, and at the end of this period, if compensation is applied for the first time (or after a 2-year break from receipt ), the property will not be valued during the first 3 months.
Compensation is also available to people in debt for heating and water, but it is important that providers are contracted to pay part of the debt or that the court orders a court.
HEATING OFFSETS
These compensations can be obtained by calculating how much heating costs to a family or a person per month. For example, if a resident lives on a monthly income of € 300, so far they have not had to pay more than € 17.5 for heating. Expenses that exceed this amount will be reimbursed.
Starting in June, more of the heating costs will be reimbursed per person living. Now, the same person mentioned in the example should not pay more than € 11.25; the rest of the costs are reimbursed.
If the person’s income is less than € 187.5, all actual costs for heating the home are reimbursed, provided the home is not very large or does not require a disproportionate amount of fuel.
The following standards for the usable area of the home are used to calculate the compensation for heating a home:
50 square meters if a person lives alone.
38 square meters for the first person living together.
12 square meters for a second person living together.
10 square meters for the third and each subsequent person living together.
For example, for a family of 4 disadvantaged, the heating is compensated with a useful area of no more than 70 square meters.
REFUNDS FOR DRINKING WATER
These compensations can be obtained when the costs of cold water and wastewater exceed 2%. Personal or family income. For example, a resident with a monthly income of € 300 would have to pay no more than € 6 for drinking water and the remaining amount would have to be reimbursed.
Of course, the amount of water consumed is also taken into account, depending on the number of households and the way hot water is prepared.
When district heating is used to prepare hot water:
2 cubic meters per first person living together or per person living per month.
1.5 cubic meters for the second person living together per month.
1 cubic meter for the third and each subsequent cohabitant per month.
When other forms of energy or fuel, such as electricity, firewood, are used to prepare hot water:
3.5 cubic meters for the first person who lives together or for one person who lives per month.
2.5 cubic meters for the second person living together per month.
1.5 cubic meters for the third person and each subsequent person living together per month.
If there are 6 people living together and district heating is used to prepare the water, they will be compensated for 7.5 cubic meters of drinking water.
HOT WATER COMPENSATION
These compensations can be obtained when the costs of hot water and its preparation exceed 5%. Personal or family income. In the case of a person who receives an income of € 300, expenses over € 15 will be reimbursed.
Refunded by:
1.5 cubic meters for the first person who lives together or for one person who lives per month.
1 cubic meter per second person living together per month.
0.5 cubic meter for the third person and each subsequent person who lives together per month.
STATE AID IF THE HOUSING IS RENEWED
If an apartment building is being renovated or is being renovated under a multi-apartment renovation (modernization) project and the people living in it are entitled to compensation for heating, the owner receives a credit and payments from interests.
WHERE TO APPLY: to your municipality or www.spis.lt.
VALIDITY: already valid.
Support for housing rental.
SOCIAL HOUSING
Until now, the law has not stipulated how long a low-income person or family can wait in line to obtain social housing. This situation does not encourage municipalities to increase the amount of social housing, and people have been waiting for years. About 15.6 percent. individuals or families have been waiting for the rental of social housing for more than 5 years, and the average period is 7.7 years.
To encourage people to rent social housing faster, specific waiting periods are introduced: from 2024 to 5, from 2026 to 3 years. Municipalities must already take measures to ensure that the waiting period is reduced in accordance with the new requirements when developing the social housing fund.
If the municipality does not provide social housing after the deadline, then it will be obliged to compensate the part of the rental of the dwelling where the family lives while waiting for the social housing. It is true that the compensation will be paid no more than 14 square meters of useful area per person.
The family will not receive rent compensation if they have stated the requirements to apply for social housing, which may take some time, for example, the family is applying for housing in a specific municipal location or on a specific floor of a house.
HOUSING COMPENSATION
Low-income people also have the opportunity to receive compensation to cover part of the cost of renting or renting adequate housing. Until now, determining the amount of compensation will depend directly on the value of real estate in the area. Sometimes, especially when a person lives alone in the home, this amount is very small. One of the smallest, for example, in the Akmenė district, only 3.84 euros.
As of July 1, when calculating these compensations, the coefficient will be determined based on the average prices of the home rental market and will be differentiated according to the number of family members. There is also a minimum basic amount of compensation for the part of the house or rent that is between € 23 and € 32 per month, when the useful area per person is between 10 and 14 square meters.
For people left without parental care, such as the disabled, who have left their home for social care, group or independent living (if they have no other housing in Lithuania), social housing will be provided out of service.
WHERE TO GO: to your municipality.
VALIDITY: Most of the changes, since July.
Children’s money
The child’s money is a universal benefit paid to each child. Its size in 2020 is 60 euros. An additional benefit of EUR 40 can be paid for disabled children and children from low-income or large families.
A low-income family is considered to be one in which the average monthly income per family member does not exceed € 250, excluding the child’s money and part of the salary. To date, the amount of income received in the last 12 months has been taken into account when evaluating family income to obtain more money for children.
However, as the financial situation of some families deteriorated sharply during the quarantine period, it was decided that by July 1. The income received from April 1 will be evaluated, and from July the income from the previous 3 months will be evaluated and the child benefit will be granted for three months.
This means that if a family applies for a supplemental benefit for a child in July, their income is assessed in April, May, and June. This month’s income will already reflect the financial challenges the family faced during the quarantine.
Such relief will be valid for an additional period of 6 months after the end of the emergency and quarantine. In addition, around 33 thousand children should receive more money for children. children.
WHERE TO APPLY: to your municipality or www.spis.lt.
VALIDITY: The changes are already in effect.
When you lose your job
If you lose your job and do not lose any income, it is suggested to contact the Employment Service. By registering with the Employment Service, it is easier to look for another job, the unemployed who have accumulated the required duration of the social security service can receive the benefit of social unemployment insurance, and if they have not accumulated it, they will be able to receive the benefit of temporary job search. Unemployed persons registered with the Employment Service are covered by compulsory health insurance, so they can use treatment services in health care institutions free of charge.
UNEMPLOYMENT SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFIT
This benefit is available if the person has at least 12 months of unemployment social security in the last 30 months before registering with the Employment Service. The employer pays the unemployment social security contributions when employed, and some self-employed people (sole proprietorships, members of small associations and full members of companies) pay them themselves.
If the unemployment benefit expires, it is paid for 9 months. The benefit consists of two parts: fixed and variable: the fixed part in 2020 is 141.25 euros, the variable depends on the previous salary. The benefit is greatest in the first few months, then gradually decreases.
Variable of unemployment benefits:
1-3 months – 38.79 percent. average person insured income (all income from which state social security contributions have been paid),
4-6 months – 31.03 percent. average insured income of a person,
7-9 months: 23.27 percent. average insured income of a person.
Unemployment benefits are paid for the previous month from the 20th of the month to the end of the month.
WHERE TO APPLY: to the Employment Service.
VALIDITY: No changes, can be applied at any time.
LONG TERM EMPLOYMENT BENEFIT
An employee who has worked for an employer for more than 5 years and who is terminated on the employer’s initiative without the employee’s fault is also entitled to a long-term employment benefit.
The long-term employment benefit depends on how long the employee has continuously worked for the employer:
5-10 years: 77, 58 percent. an allowance equal to an average monthly salary.
10-20 years – 77, 58 percent. a profit equal to two average monthly earnings.
For more than 20 years: 77, 58 percent. a benefit equal to three average monthly earnings per person.
It is paid if the former employee does not work for the same employer within three months and requests the dismissal no later than six months after the dismissal.
When an employee works for a budgetary institution or the Bank of Lithuania, the dismissed employer pays long-term employment benefits, in all other cases the benefit is paid from the Long-Term Employment Benefit Fund.
Long-term unemployment benefit is paid approximately three and a half months after dismissal.
WHERE TO GO: to Sodra.
VALIDITY: No changes, can be applied at any time.
TEMPORARY JOB SEARCH PERIOD
To ensure that no unemployed person runs out of income at the end of quarantine, a new benefit will soon appear – a temporary job search benefit.
It is available to people who are unemployed in the Employment Service and do not participate in active labor market policy measures, such as supported vocational training.
The job search allowance can be in two amounts: € 200 and € 42. For those who do not qualify for the standard unemployment benefit or whose pay period has already expired, the job search benefit will amount to € 200. For those who receive the normal unemployment benefit, the additional job search benefit will be € 42.
This benefit will be available as soon as the President signs the amendments to the Employment Law. It will be paid for 6 months, but not later than the end of this year.
WHERE TO APPLY: to the Employment Service.
VALIDITY: it comes into force the day after the President’s signature (already adopted by Seimas).
© SADM photo
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