In December, every low-income family, including IDP families with children or adults with group I disabilities, will receive UAH 6,500 from the Government for each child.
This was announced by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal during a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers.
These funds are intended to buy children warm clothes, shoes and other things they need in winter. However, Shmyhal did not specify whether families would be allowed to spend the money on other purposes besides clothing and warm clothes. However, journalists from BBC Ukraine found out from the Ministry of Social Policy that there will be no restrictions on the spending of these funds. For example, if warm clothes have already been purchased, families can spend them on other needs.
They promise to pay out the new allowance by the end of this December.
There will be no need to apply for additional payments, as they will be allocated automatically based on information in state registers. The funds will be transferred to the same account to which the family receives the current benefits.
The amount of assistance will not be taken into account in the average monthly total income of the family, which is calculated when applying for other types of assistance, including housing subsidies. That is, the payments will not affect their appointment in any way.
The “Warm Winter” benefit was introduced by the Government as part of a comprehensive Winter Support package for Ukrainian families on November 26.
In addition, on St. Nicholas Day, orphans and children deprived of parental care who are raised in families of guardians or caregivers will receive an additional one thousand hryvnias for each child, the Government noted.
The material was prepared within the framework of the project “Responding to Life Risks and Humanitarian Needs of the Conflict-Affected Population in Southern and Southeastern Ukraine”, implemented by the CCC Charitable Foundation in cooperation with the international humanitarian organization CARE with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.