General News

Czech: disabled in Prague to get subsistance benefits under new bill

Prague, March 10 (CTK) - Disabled people who do not get disability pensions for various reasons will be eligible for subsistence allowances even if they fail to work for the required period of time, under a bill that the Czech lower house passed Wednesday.

The bill is yet to be supported by the Senate and signed by the president to take effect.

Ombudsman Otakar Motejl has called for the change in the law that has been effective since January and whose main aim is to prevent the abuse of welfare benefits.

Lower house social committee deputy chairwoman Alena Paralova (Civic Democrats, ODS) admitted previously that nobody realised that the law would harm a part of the disabled.

Paralova said the bill passed today concerns only persons who are disabled or have to follow a diet regime and who are really poor at the same time, said.

The disabled people who did not work or pay social insurance for a required time in the past are not eligible for disability pension from January and they receive only 2020 crowns a month even though the monthly subsistence level is 3126 crowns for an adult living alone.

This concerns about 2500 persons.

At present, they are authorised to get the subsistence allowances only if they do 20 hours of community work a month. But people with serious disabilities are unable to do community work.

The lower house supported the bill in order to change this.

Additional Information

Country: Czech Republic
Website: http://praguemonitor.com/2010/03/11/disabled-%C4%8Dr-get-subsistence-benefits-under-new-bill
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Source: Email from: MORI, Soya
When: 14/3/2010