Fewer families receiving child benefits as income adjustments delay, births drop

[InTime News]

The fig of families receiving benefits for their children continues to shrink arsenic rising wages propulsion households implicit income thresholds that person not been adjusted for inflation.

According to the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family and the state welfare bureau OPEKA, 498,799 parents were eligible for the payment this September, down 22,925 from a year earlier. 

Payments this period totaled €87.5 million, compared with €99.7 cardinal distributed to 521,724 families successful September 2024. The diminution is sharper when measured against 2023, when 635,103 families received a total of €123.5 million.

Officials accidental the driblet reflects some a diminution successful births and the deficiency of changes to eligibility criteria. As nominal wages roseate successful 2024, much families crossed income limits and nary longer qualified for the allowance.

In the meantime, the authorities reopened the online A21 exertion platform, where families tin submit caller claims oregon update existing ones utilizing their Taxisnet credentials.

Eligibility is based connected the fig of babelike children and 2024 household income, with schoolhouse enrollment checks required for each minors.

Right now, 1.1 cardinal beneficiaries of various κοινωνικά programs, including the kid benefit, person much than €275.5 cardinal done OPEKA.