Guaranteed minimum income to be raised next year

Take note – story published 4 years ago

The government plans to raise the guaranteed minimum income to €64 a month, the Welfare Ministry said October 1.

This benefit is a last-resort support for needy people with no income or very low income. The benefit is paid to needy families or individuals based on the difference between the guaranteed minimum income and the total income of the family.

It is expected that about 24,000 people could qualify for the benefit in 2020.

In 2018 20,878 people or 1.1% of the population received the benefit.

Municipalities can set their own minimum income level but only Rīga, Jūrmala and Daugavpils pay €57 a month and progressive Liepāja pays €70 a month.

On the same day of the government announcement, Ombudsman Juris Jansons turned to the Constitutional Court over the meager scale of this benefit, saying that it contradicts the right to social security set out in the Constitution. 

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