NordenBladet —
Chair of the Committee Õnne Pillak underlined that families with children must be supported, and this would continue. “But it is of crucial importance to face up to the fact revealed in the spring economic forecast that living beyond our means, which started six years ago, and three major crises have left a hole in the purse of the state. It is for the sake of the children that we need to tighten our belts, to put our public finances in order, so that we can leave them a functioning state. This is our duty to our children,” she said. According to the Chair of the Committee, changes to family allowances are necessary to provide more support first of all to those children who are in a more vulnerable situation. “For example, every amount of financial assistance is vital for children with rare diseases.”
Deputy Chair of the Committee Riina Solman admitted that changing the system of family benefits was a very bad surprise. “The money already promised to children and included in the budget of families with many children will be taken away, in violation of the principles of legal certainty. I believe that this debate will reach the Supreme Court,” she said. Solman added that there was no comprehensive analysis of the proposed system, and it was not clear where the money saved with the reform would go.
According to the Bill, the maintenance allowance paid to a child when the person obligated to pay maintenance does not pay maintenance or does not pay it in the required amount will increase from 100 euro per month to 200 euro per month from 1 January 2024. In Estonia, single-parent families are the poorest compared to other family types – a third of single-parent households are at risk of poverty.
From 1 January 2024, the allowance for families with many children will be 450 euro per month for three to six children, and to 650 euro per month for families with seven or more children.
From 1 July 2023, the regulation on gradual termination of the allowance for families with many children, according to which the allowance for families with many children was to be paid until the youngest child attained 19 years of age, will be repealed. As the regulation was in force only for a few months, this change will not affect many families. Indexing the allowance for families with many children with the pension index, which had to enter into force from 1 May 2024, will also be dropped.
The Social Affairs Committee sent the Bill on Amendments to the Family Benefits Act and to the Act on Amendments to the Family Benefits Act, the Family Law Act and the Employment Contracts Act (17 SE), initiated by the Government on 24 April, to the first reading at the plenary sitting of the Riigikogu on 8 May with the motion to conclude the first reading.
Riigikogu Press Service
Maris Meiessaar
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Link uudisele: The Social Affairs Committee sent amendments to the Family Benefits Act to first reading
Source: Parliament of Estonia