Parent caregivers get first 300 contracts, 65,000 dinars
Minister Milica Djurdjevic Stamenkovski says payments start at once, with the right running from the day of application. Evo Ruka warns of a stall between social work centers and the PIO fund.
Payment of the 65,000 dinar monthly benefit (~555 EUR) to parent caregivers starts immediately once contracts are handed over, and about 300 of the first contracts are being delivered today, Monday, November 9, at the Palace of Serbia in Belgrade. The Law on Parent Caregivers has applied since October 1, so the first contracts arrived a little more than six weeks after it took effect.
That is what Milica Djurdjevic Stamenkovski, minister of labor, employment, veterans and social affairs in the caretaker government, told Tanjug. Parents from across Serbia whose decisions have reached the ministry have been invited to the ceremonial reception.
Who gets the contracts, and how many applications are waiting?
Social work centers process the applications, and the ministry prepares the contracts. The minister said more than 6,000 applications have been filed since the law took effect. The first 300 or so contracts are roughly 5% of that number, but not every application has been processed, so the ratio cannot be read as a share of approvals.
Djurdjevic Stamenkovski said of today’s reception:
“The first contracts will be awarded today, that is, on Monday, at the Palace of Serbia, at a ceremonial reception for parents from all over Serbia whose decisions have reached the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs”
She expects contracts to be delivered by the end of November for most of the processed applications that meet the criteria. An application can also be filed electronically, and the ministry’s contact center, by her account, has spoken with several thousand parents.
From which day does the right to the benefit run?
The minister stresses that the right is counted neither from the date of the contract nor from the decision, but from the day the application was filed, provided the parent met the conditions at that time. From her address:
“It is important for parents to know, as I have stressed several times, that their right is counted and starts to run from the day they filed the application, regardless of whether they have already received a decision or a contract, because that is how payments will be treated. If on the day you filed the application you met the conditions, the status starts to run for you from that day”
On a monthly basis, 300 contracts at the full benefit come to 19.5 million dinars (~166,000 EUR). That is our calculation, not a ministry figure. If all 6,000 filed applications met the conditions, the monthly obligation would reach 390 million dinars (~3.3 million EUR), which is an upper bound, not an estimate.
The minister says the money is secured. She assured parents that payments will be regular: “We have prepared everything and their payments will be regular.” She added that salaries, pensions and social protection rights must not be put in question, and that mechanisms exist for the case when the budget for the coming year has not yet been adopted. The caretaker government, as she put it, has limited capacity, including on the budget.
What does the Evo Ruka association say?
Ana Knazevic of the Evo Ruka association appeared on the show “Redakcija” on Kurir television. She called the contracts a step toward a goal the association has pushed for years, but warned of a stall in the system:
“There has been a major delay and misunderstanding between the social work centers and the PIO fund. I do not know whether that problem has been resolved in the meantime, but a large number of parents are still waiting, even though they submitted all the required documentation on time. A problem arose in the system which, at least last week, seemed unsolvable. I hope it will be resolved this week.”
Knazevic also put the size of the benefit in context. By her account, parents receive a “guaranteed amount of 65,000 dinars, which is now already below the minimum wage, as well as taxes and contributions.” She said the law needs further amendments and that the association will be patient “until the Assembly is constituted.”
What about parents of children over 18?
That part is still unsettled. The ministry says it will work with the PIO fund as soon as possible to define the criteria under which parents of children older than 18 could also claim the right. Knazevic said the association still has a problem precisely with parents of adult children.
The minister explained the ministry’s position this way:
“We do not want anyone to be denied the right, neither those whose children are under 18, nor those whose children are over 18, because these are children who, despite being adults, are still fully dependent on the support of their parents, and therefore it is natural that their parents, too, have the status of parent caregivers”
She called on social work centers to process applications promptly and said political circumstances must not be an excuse for delays: “Because these are people who have waited too long and for whom literally every day counts, regardless of the fact that their status is recognized from the day the application itself was filed.”
The minister expects the government to be formed immediately after parliament is constituted. Asked whether that would happen by the end of November, she replied that this is a question for Ilija Srdanovic, Radomir Saicic and Dejan Soskic. She added that she will keep working on the rights of parent caregivers even after she stops being a minister.
