Family benefit: Free tries to change law

The party delivered a bill that attempts to clarify the concept of a single-parent household. “Strict criteria”.

The increase in the amount of the family allowance of children and young people who only have a mother or father at home (they are in family single parents) is 50%.

These are priority families in the public response to combating child poverty.

Recently, news has emerged about single-parent families who lost the right to an increase in family benefit due to composition changes of the household, or to slight yield increases.

Many of these cases involved mothers who either temporarily returned to parents’ house (they didn’t have money to pay for the house), or they did overtime, or because one of the descendants became of legal age – and, therefore, they were left without support, or support dropped.

The Ombudsman’s Office had already commented that it is necessary to review the concept of a single-parent household.

O Book considers that the law in force is based on “too strict criteria”which do not meet the reality of families and which do not correspond to real changes in the economic capacity of families.

Therefore, the party presented to the Assembly of the Republic a proposal that it intends to clarify o concept single-parent family unit.

For Livre, a single-parent household must continue to be classified in this way, even if a child, adopted child or stepchild lives in the same house. bigger, who is not over 25 years old, and who does not annually receive income greater than the guaranteed minimum monthly salary – excluding social benefits.

It must also be maintained in families where, in the same house, an adult is living dependent due to disability or incapacity, unfit for work and earning a means of subsistence.

Livre also argues that the household should continue to be single-parent, even if it is in a house where they live other adults who do not exercise parental responsibilities or declare common income.