Background information

With the start of the new academic year and after the proposal of the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare, the Cabinet announced an emergency measure on 7 September 2022 for children 4 to 18 years of age. The decision was based on the need to adopt supporting measures targeting the groups of the population – households with school age children in this case – that have suffered the consequences of inflationary pressures caused by the war in Ukraine and the expensiveness of essential consumer goods; a lamp sum payment is provided by the scheme.

Content of measure

Beneficiaries of the grant are all households with children 4-18 years of age with annual gross income up to €59,000. The grant was paid once and the amount was calculated on the basis of total gross annual household income of beneficiaries in the following seven household categories:

• for households with income up to €10,000, the grant provided was €80 for every child
• for households with income from €10,001 to €19,500, the grant was €70 for every child
• for households with income from €19,501 to €29,000, the grant was €60 for every child
• for households with income from €29,001 to €39,000, the grant provided was €50 for every child
• for households with income from €39,001 to €49,000 with 3 or more children, the grant provided was €50 for the 3 child and/or every other child
• for households with income from €49,001 to €59,000 with 3 or more children, the grant provided was €50 for the 3 child and/or every other child up to 18 years of age.

The total expenditure for the implementation of the measure was €3.3 million.

Use of measure

The total number of beneficiary households is 33,861 that received the benefit and the number of children benefited by the on-off grant is 52,186.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Does not apply to businesses	Children (minors) Parents People on low incomes

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

The designing of the grant scheme has been performed by the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare and upon the decision of the members of the Cabinet; no social partner or political party has been invited to participate in any kind of consultation. Similarly, social partners and political parties have no involvement in the implementation of the grant. The implementation agency is the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare.

Views and reactions

No particular reactions have been recorded by social partners or political parties in regards to the issuing of the Grant and/or the content. However, the government received tough criticism from social partners and political parties in the previous period on the inadequacy and/or lack of government’s supporting measures to meet the effects of inflation on citizens.

Sources

• 07 September 2022: Eφάπαξ χορηγία «Επιστροφή στο Σχολείο» για παιδιά 4-18 ετών (www.philenews.com)
• 22 September 2022: Δελτίο Τύπου. Καταβάλλεται σήμερα η εφάπαξ χορηγία «Επιστροφή στο Σχολείο» Καταβάλλεται σήμερα η εφάπαξ χορηγία «Επιστροφή στο Σχολείο» (www.dmsw.gov.cy)