Assistance to children living in large families: how to arrange and not lose benefits and subsidies

Tetiana Borysenko, lawyer of Skliarenko, Sydorenko and Partners, especially for UBR.ua

Assistance for children raised in large families may be disadvantageous to the families themselves. After all, writing an application for assistance, in some cases may cost of losing the existing benefits and subsidies. What should be considered in order not to fall into the trap of state support - let's try to figure it out.

When and how much

So, according to the recently promulgated Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of March 13, 201 No. 250 “Some issues of providing social support to large families,” from April 1, 2019, payment was made for children who are raised in large families. The decree also approved the procedure for payment of benefits and introduced technical changes to the procedure for financing local budget expenditures.

According to the document, the amount of assistance is 1700 UAH. per month for the third and each subsequent child until they reach the age of six. That is, if there are three children in the family under six years old, the assistance will receive the youngest one. However, there is a nuance: if a family become large after the birth of twins, in this case, the assistance will be 3400 UAH. But if there are five children in a family, three of whom have not reached the age of six, then all three will receive assistance.

Payments will be charged from April 1, 2019 in the event that parents apply for the appointment of benefits until June. Moreover, from July there will be a general rule, according to which assistance will be charged only from the moment of appeal. Therefore, it is not worth postponing the issue.

It is noteworthy that the possibility of receiving assistance by a government decision is not made dependent on family income. That is, government support applies to both rich and poor citizens. Why such “bounties” appeared right now is a rhetorical question.

How to get assistance

The social welfare authorities will appoint and pay assistance at the registered place of residence or a place of actual residence of a father or mother of the large family - a person claiming assistance. Actually, in accordance with the Order, one of the parents must come here personally and submit the following set of documents:

1) a statement drawn up in accordance with the form approved by the Ministry of Social Policy (now there is no information on the availability of the approved form);

2) a copy of the certificate of the parents of a large family. Such a certificate is issued one to both parents.

3) a copy (copies) of the identity of the child from a large family.

Document issued on the children who have reached the age of six.

4) copies of birth certificates of all children

You should also have your passport and the originals of the documents mentioned.

If the place of your actual residence does not coincide with the place of registration, the application can be submitted at the place of actual residence. To verify the fact of non-receipt of assistance at the place of registration social security authorities must check it themselves.

In rural areas, the executive committee of village and town councils must determine the person authorized to accept applications and hand them over to the social security authorities.

If you make a mistake with a set of documents, do not worry: to eliminate the shortcomings (which should be reported to the social security agency) is given a month. However, the decision on the submitted documents must be made within ten days. Five more days of social protection is to notify the applicant about the content of the decision.

Payment of assistance must be made to a bank account or in cash at the post office.

These requirements are contained in the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministry. In practice, the author (who has already filed an application for assistance), the social security agency additionally asked for a certificate from the school where the eldest child is studying (to make sure that he is not under the maintenance of the state), a certificate from the bank with social account details, and copies of documents from the spouse (husband).

Moreover, although the application form does not yet exist, it did not become an obstacle for its acceptance: they gave an old form for the payment of another type of assistance for registration.

In addition, the social security agency said that while there is no necessary software they only accept documents, because they cannot refuse. However, the payments themselves is expected to begin only after two months.

When assistance is get canceled

In addition to the child attaining six years of age, the Procedure establishes an extended list of other circumstances under which payment of assistance get canceled. These include:

1) deprivation of parental rights;

2) refusal to raise a child;

3) inappropriate use of funds and the failure to create appropriate conditions for the full maintenance and upbringing of the child;

4) the selection of the child without deprivation of parental rights;

5) the temporary placement of the child for the full state content;

6) the stay of the recipient of assistance in places of deprivation of liberty by decision of a court;

7) loss of the status of a large family;

8) the death of a child;

9) the death of the recipient of assistance.

The duty to inform the social security authorities of these circumstances lies with the recipient of assistance. By the way, the document does not provide any exceptions in case of the recipient's own death.

For all cases, except for death and loss of the status of a large family, the reason for termination of payments by the social security agency is the proposal of the center of social services for families, children and young people or an authorized person designated by the executive body of the council of the united territorial community. On this basis, we can expect visits by inspectors from time to time will check the conditions in which children are kept raised.

As a general rule, the payment of benefits ceases from the month following the month in which the specified circumstances arose, by the decision of the social protection authority that appointed the assistance.

Minus benefits and subsidies?

An interesting nuance in the matter of receiving benefits for children raised in large families lies in the fact that appointment and payment of assistance increases the size of the average total family income. And, as is known, the possibility of obtaining the granted subsidies and the established benefits depends on income.

For example, according to the Law on the Protection of Childhood, large families are granted the following benefits:

- 50 percent discount for the use of housing (rent) in the normal range;

- 50% discount on utility fees (gas, electricity, and other services) and the cost of liquefied bottled gas for domestic needs within the limits of norms;

- 50% discount on the cost of fuel, including liquid, within the limits of the norms, in case the house does not have central heating;

- 50 percent discount on subscription fees for the use of a stationary phone.

Children from large families also have the privilege to receive free medicines prescribed by the doctors.

But all these benefits under the law, are provided only under the condition that the size of the average monthly total family income per person for the previous six months does not exceed the amount of income that gives the right to a tax social benefit. Today it is 2690 UAH. That is, if, taking into account assistance, the monthly income of a family consisting of two parents and three children exceeds the amount of UAH 13,450, such a family loses benefits.

In any case, low-income families who have previously received subsidies or benefits should first assess the additional income from the allowance for children, and compare it with the official average monthly total income of the family and only after that make a decision on writing or not a statement to the social protection agency.