Some benefits are proposed: some people are forced to live twice as poor as the absolute poverty line



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Parliamentarians who have registered the amendments to the law on deductibles for social assistance benefits and the basic amount of fines and penalties propose that the social assistance pension be at least 76 percent, and the income supported by the It has been 70 percent of last year’s minimum consumption needs.

Seimas members say that currently the state-funded social assistance pension and income are only half the amount needed for a person’s basic needs (food, medicine, hygiene measures, etc.).

“The size of the minimum consumption needs is considered the limit of absolute poverty. Therefore, a person who receives a welfare pension is condemned to live twice as poor as the absolute poverty line, or should he eat every two days? Many recipients of welfare pensions are mothers who have raised disabled children and have not accumulated work experience. Is the state punishing them a second time? “asks one of the initiators of the amendment, a member of Seimas D. Šakalienė.

“Obviously, it is impossible to survive for an amount that is only half the size of minimum consumption needs. If the state does not want to push people into poverty, it is necessary to increase welfare pensions and state supported income at least 76 and 70 percent, with the goal of reaching 90 percent of the minimum consumption needs in the future. This would be an effective measure for disadvantaged people and would not distort their incentives to integrate into the labor market “, says R. Budbergytė, the elder of the faction of the Seimas Social Democratic Party.

The Ministry of Social Security and Labor calculates and determines annually the amount of minimum consumption necessary. Welfare pensions are paid to people with disabilities from childhood and to people who have not completed a period of service (for example, people with disabilities or who care for disabled family members).

It is proposed that the amendments to the law registered in May of this year take effect on July 1 of this year.

Current law stipulates that the social assistance pension base cannot be less than 56 percent, and state-funded income cannot be less than 50 percent of the minimum consumption needs of the previous year.

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