Source: Announcements
During last week's cabinet meeting, the council of Ministers decided to impose measures to help mitigate inflationary pressures on the general population.
Increase of all pensions
From July 2022, all pensions of the Social Insurance Fund, including the Social Pension, will be raised. The increase will be tantamount to the increase of the Consumer Price Index from the second half of 2021 to the first half of 2022. Which equates to an increase of 4.3%. This corresponds to an increase of € 69 million in the annual pension expenditure.
Taking into account the increase of 1.22% already granted to all pensions from January 1, 2022, the total increase of pensions for 2022 amounts to 5.6% resulting in a substantial remuneration in terms of price increases.
80% tuition subsidy for children up to four years old
The government will provide assistance in the form of a grant for kindergarten-aged children. Specifically, families with children aged up to four years old can receive a subsidy that will pay for 80% of the monthly educational costs of each child. The amount has been capped at €100 to €350 per month depending on the composition of the family, the amount of the family income and the age of the children.
For a child to be able to qualify for this benefit, the child must be enrolled or will be enrolled in a daycare center or kindergarten. In addition, parents must meet the income criteria to be determined at the time of announcement and must have been approved to receive Child Allowance for the year 2022.
The Plan will provide for up to 16,000 children who are up to four years of age by August 31, 2022, and for the schoolyear 2022-2023.
It is noted that in order for nurseries and kindergartens to participate in the Plan, including private and community programs, they must not have made and will not make tuition increases of more than 5%, or a monthly amount to be determined in the announcement of the Plan, in relation to the previous year.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Security and the Ministry of Social Welfare, which will jointly implement the Plan, will provide more detailed information on the application procedures and other details of its implementation.
One-time subsidy for people with disabilities
All persons with disabilities who receive benefits from the Department of Social Integration of Persons with Disabilities will receive a lump sum of €100 provided that they do not fall into the categories of persons who will receive the corresponding lump sum support from the Ministry of Social Welfare.
Beneficiaries include the blind, quadriplegic, paraplegics, those who receive severe mobility allowance and beneficiaries of trafficking allowance so long as these persons do not already receive Minimum Guaranteed Income and will not receive any of the one-time grants provided by the Ministry.
The one-time grant will be paid at the end of June 2022 to all beneficiaries and no application is needed.
