Guaranteed minimum monthly income could be increased next year – Update

{This news story replaces the previous one} The guaranteed minimum monthly income for families on low income, vulnerable families, families with many children and persons with disabilities for 2010 could be raised from 430 lei to 530 lei per person, Info-Prim Neo reports. The guaranteed minimum monthly income is a value fixed in the budget law that is used to calculate the social assistance. The benefit represents the difference between the guaranteed minimum income and the family's total income. “This benefit is designed to reduce the poverty level and support the poorest and most vulnerable families,” Minister of Labor, Social Protection and Family Valentina Buliga told a news conference on Friday, December 18. Before providing the benefit, the incomes of the given families will be assessed. Stelian Coreisan, the head of the social assistance and family protection division in Ialoveni, said the local social workers will go from house to house and identity the disadvantaged persons that need social assistance. Stelian Coreisan also said that some of the persons receive benefits illegally. “There are persons who consider that the state is obliged to maintain them. There were cases when persons who owned land sold it in order to get benefits,” he said. “This law (on social assistance) is designed to prevent the development of an infantile society dependent on social assistance. We will find a mechanism to motivate the people to work . They should not wait for benefits from the state,” Valentina Buliga said. A number of 18,791 families benefited from social assistance to the value of 114 million lei this year. In 2010, the social protection system will cover about 50,000 families.