Serbia's Caregiver Parents Get 65,000 Dinars From October 1

Starting October 1, 2026, a parent, guardian or other family member who provides round the clock care for a child or an adult with a severe disability can apply for caregiver parent status. The payment is 65,000 dinars a month, and alongside it the state pays full pension, disability and health insurance contributions, so the recipient’s work record keeps accruing. The Law on Caregiver Parents takes effect on the same day applications open.

On September 25, the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs brought together social work center staff to walk through every step of putting the new right into practice. Minister Milica Djurdjevic Stamenkovski said the system is ready and that the ministry will stay with the centers throughout the process.

“Our message today is clear: the system is ready. The centers are ready, the Ministry is ready, and the support mechanisms for citizens are ready. From October 1 we start together, with one goal: for this new right to reach every family it is intended for as quickly and simply as possible,” the minister said.

The ministry also announced a dedicated call center to inform citizens about the new right, so that social work centers can focus on casework with families instead of fielding routine questions.

“We want people not to have to go door to door to obtain a right that belongs to them. The state must be where the citizen is: accessible, understandable, and ready to help,” Djurdjevic Stamenkovski said.

Who qualifies for caregiver parent status?

The right applies to parents, guardians and family members of people who are entirely dependent on someone else’s care, as well as to parents of children with sensory impairments who need such care, Radica Pejcinovic Bulajic of the Ministry of Labor confirmed to public broadcaster RTS. The person being cared for must already hold the right to an increased care allowance.

Additional conditions, according to Telegraf:

• the applicant lives in the same household as the child or adult who needs full time care because of a physical, sensory or intellectual impairment
• the applicant is not employed and does not run a business or work as an entrepreneur
• the applicant does not receive an old age or disability pension

The status can be used from the age of majority until age 65, the general age limit for a pension under existing rules.

How to apply and how long the decision takes

For the first time in Serbia’s social protection system, the application can be filed online through the eUprava portal, or in person at the social work center covering the applicant’s place of residence. The center must issue a decision within 15 days of the file being complete, down from the previous 30. According to Telegraf, both the payment and the pension credit are calculated from the date the application is filed, once the conditions are met.

Pejcinovic Bulajic told RTS that the ministry, as the law’s drafter, tried to keep the applicant’s paperwork to a minimum, since most of the documentation is pulled from existing electronic records rather than collected on paper.

The payment doesn’t affect earlier rights, Ministry says

Pejcinovic Bulajic stressed that the monthly payment does not in any way reduce social benefits a person already receives, or is entitled to in the future, under the Law on Social Protection. She noted that the 65,000 dinars comes together with pension, disability and mandatory health insurance contributions, so a caregiver parent will still qualify for a pension under the general rules once they reach the required age.

That, according to the “Decije Srce” association, is the question families ask most often. The association’s representative Sasenka Mirkovic says parents mainly want to know whether taking on the new status means losing something they already have.

“The most common question parents ask is whether they will lose any rights they already have, that is, whether caregiver parent status excludes some other services,” Mirkovic told RTS.

She added that this is more a fear of the unknown than an actual risk, and that the procedure is “very well regulated,” though as with any new measure something unforeseen could still come up. The 25 year old association says it is ready to help families with the electronic application itself.

The right ends if the recipient takes a job, becomes eligible for a regular pension, or if the person they care for no longer needs full time care.

The Law on Caregiver Parents takes effect the same month that, according to the Una portal, payouts of the one time 6,000 dinar assistance for adult citizens are closing, having been collected at more than 2,600 Banka Postanska Stedionica locations. The Ministry of Labor says that, alongside the caregiver parent status, it will track the rollout of already announced increases to regular public sector pay through December.