With the adoption of the Law on Material Support to Families with Children in the Federation of BiH, children from low-income families and socially disadvantaged families will be entitled to child allowance in the monthly amount of 103.17 BAM until the age of eighteen.
According to estimates, this law will cover about 80,000 children in the Federation of BiH. The draft law should soon be in the parliamentary procedure, after the Government of the Federation of BiH, at its last session, determined its 12 amendments, which became an integral part of this law.
“With these amendments, we have improved the proposed law and significantly relaxed the criteria for exercising the right, in order to include as many children and all unemployed mothers in the Federation of BiH. In addition, we have shortened the deadlines for harmonizing cantonal and other regulations to three months, so that the implementation of the law could start in the middle of this year “, explained the Federal Minister of Labor and Social Policy Vesko Drljaca.
The application of the rights determined by the law should start on July 1 this year, for which the Government of the Federation of BiH planned 50 million BAM in this year’s budget, while about 100 million BAM will be provided annually from the FBiH budget.
In addition, the law guarantees that the child allowance will be increased annually, as there is a regular adjustment of the minimum wage, which is ensured by the recently adopted decree of the FBiH Government.
Since the child allowance has so far been regulated by cantonal regulations, unequal rights have arisen depending on the place of residence. Analyzes show that the cantonal average for child allowance is currently around 33 BAM per month, but there are also cantons that do not know this right at all.
Minister Drljaca pointed out that this legal solution, in addition to increasing the amount of child allowance three times compared to the current average, guarantees equal rights to every child in the socially endangered and low-income families.
“I would like to emphasize that this law has a social and economic component. It also represents investment in human resources, especially in the situation of decreasing births and departure of young families abroad. In addition, this law brings all unemployed mothers in FBiH to the same legal position, which is one of the segments of pronatality policy. This law significantly improves the area of social policy and ensures significantly the same rights in this area, “said Drljaca.
When it comes to maternity benefits for unemployed mothers in the Federation of BiH, for the first time it is prescribed that these benefits cannot be lower than 55 percent of the lowest salary in FBiH, in the first year after birth, which currently amounts to 298.65 BAM.
This will ensure minimum equality, regardless of which canton they come from. The cantons, in accordance with their financial circumstances, have the possibility to increase the amount of maternity benefits.
An unemployed mother receives financial assistance if she is registered in the records of the competent employment service or is in regular schooling, or if she is not registered as an employed person in the records of the Tax Administration. In this way, the income census in exercising the right to financial assistance is abolished, which, according to estimates, significantly increases the number of beneficiaries from the previous 2,100 to more than 9,000.
The deadline for harmonizing cantonal regulations with the provisions of federal law is three months, the FBiH Government’s Public Relations Office said.
