Background information

On 3 March 2022, the Latvian Parliament Saeima adopted the Law on Assistance to Ukrainian Civilians. The purpose of the Law is to provide assistance to Ukrainian civilians who leave Ukraine or who cannot return to Ukraine due to the armed conflict caused by the Russian Federation. The assistance specified in the Law is provided during the course of the armed conflict. Since it was introduced, the Law has been amended several times.

Content of measure

Section 7 of the Law provides Ukrainian civilians with the rights to social services and social assistance.

Ukrainian civilians have the same rights to social services and social assistance as specified for the citizens of Latvia and non-citizens of Latvia in the Law on Social Services and Social Assistance. Social services, social assistance is ensured by the local government in the administrative territory of which is the accommodation site or place of residence of the Ukrainian civilian.

Social assistance includes (but is not limited to):

• The guaranteed minimum income (GMI) (with the threshold same as for Latvian residents), namely €109 per month for the first person and €76 per month for each subsequent person in the household of a Ukrainian citizen.
• Housing benefit.
• One-time benefit in a crisis situation in the amount of €272 for an adult and €190 for a child (differs from the one for Latvian citizens).
• Food and hygiene packages.
• Social services - home care or mobility support for people with functional disabilities, round-the-clock social rehabilitation (30 days), technical aids for people with functional disabilities, Parking cards for people with disabilities, Social Mentor service for initial support for a Ukrainian civilian (in municipalities), and others.

Use of measure

The total number of beneficiaries of the one-time benefit in a crisis situation in the amount of €272 for an adult and €190 for a child since the benefit became available until 28 May 2023 is 20,139 persons in 9,324 households, including 2,231 children under 6 years of age and 4,808 children aged between 7 and 17 years.

According to the State Social Insurance Agency, 156 childbirth benefits have been paid between April 2022 and April 2023. In the same period, 5,112 childcare allowances (average monthly over 400 recipients) and 47,493 family state benefits (average monthly over 4,000 recipients) were paid. Also during the same period, 592 supplements to the family state allowance for a disabled child were paid (93 beneficiaries in April 2023).

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Does not apply to businesses	Migrants or refugees

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Local / regional government	National funds

Social partners

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

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement as case not in social partner domain	No involvement as case not in social partner domain
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

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

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

Involvement

No involvement.

Views and reactions

No specific views to report.

Sources

• 14 April 2023: Law on Assistance to Ukrainian Civilians (likumi.lv)
• 14 April 2023: Par atbalstu Ukrainas civiliedzīvotājiem, Labklājības Ministrija (www.lm.gov.lv)