Increase in benefits and strengthening support for families with children. Lukashenko signs law

The President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko signed the law “On Amending Laws on Issues of State Benefits for Families Raising Children”. The document was adopted in order to increase the level of minimum guarantees for citizens during their period of social vulnerability. BELTA reported this in the press service of the Belarusian leader.

Lukashenko signed amendments to the laws regulating marriage and family relations

For women – an increase in maternity benefits and childbirth

The law provides, in particular, for an increase in the minimum amount of maternity benefits. For women for whom mandatory insurance contributions are paid to the budget of the state extra-budgetary fund for social protection of the population, who do not have 6 months of work experience (young professionals, women starting their careers), the benefit will increase from 50% of the BPM (subsistence minimum budget) to 100% of the MZP (minimum wage) per month. And for those for whom mandatory insurance contributions for social insurance were not paid to the fund’s budget, but who have the right to this type of benefit (pupils, female students, women serving in the military, women registered as unemployed), the benefit will increase from 50% to 100% of the BPM per month.

The document also provides for an increase in the minimum amount of temporary disability benefits for childcare for insured women who do not have 6 months of work experience. This benefit will increase from 50% of the BPM to 100% of the MW (similar to maternity benefits).

For families – innovations in benefits for children over 3 years old

Legislative innovations also concern certain categories of families when assigning benefits for children over 3 years old. In particular, the right to assign such benefits to families with minor children is preserved, in which the disabled child has reached the age of 18, he has been assigned the 1st disability group and one of the parents is caring for him and receiving the appropriate benefit. And also the right to assign this benefit to a child who is raised in the mother’s family, if the child’s father, who is obliged to pay alimony, is doing military or alternative service.
 
For parents of disabled children – increased social support

Social support for families raising a disabled child is being increased. Thus, the law provides for the right of parents to receive all types of state benefits during the short-term stay of a disabled child in a children’s home in connection with the provision of medical and social assistance. In addition, the rights to receive temporary disability benefits for caring for a disabled child during his or her spa treatment, medical rehabilitation, if there are several disabled children in the family, are expanded. In such cases, it is proposed to grant the right to receive benefits to another person (not a parent), if the parent is busy caring for another disabled child, or two benefits, if both disabled children need spa treatment, rehabilitation during the same period and are accompanied by different persons.

For negligent parents – stricter control

At the same time, control over the targeted use of state benefits is tightened in relation to families where cases of children being in an unfavorable environment for them have been identified. In particular, the obligation has been introduced for state bodies and organizations that assign and pay benefits to provide information about benefit recipients and their family members without the consent of citizens at the request of educational institutions conducting a social investigation into such families, as well as commissions on minors. It is envisaged that the payment of benefits will cease from the day the court decision on the removal of the child comes into force, the day the guardianship and trusteeship authority or the commission on minors makes a decision on the removal of the child. The law comes into force on January 1, 2025.