Starting from January 1, 2013, maternity, paternity and parent allowance cap will be doubled. This is according to Welfare Ministry’s (WM) informative statement issued on August 14.

Starting from January 1, 2013, the daily parent, maternity and paternity cap will be 23.02 LVL and 50% for amount that exceed 23.02 LVL. This means the number of people that will receive these allowances in a larger amount will increase by 20%. Current restrictions dictate that the maximum daily amount is 11.51 LVL and 50% for amounts under 11.51 LVL, WM reports.

The government also decided to preserve the current family allowance amount, which is eight LVL per month per child. Meanwhile, starting from January 1, 2015, it is planned to restore state family support calculation based on the number of children in a given family.

Also, the WM reports that, starting from January 1, 2013, the period of a person receiving unemployment allowance will not be dependent on the person’s insurance period and will be nine months. Unemployment allowance will be issued at full amount for the first three months, 75% in the next three months and 50% of the full amount in the last three months.

Therefore, unemployed people with an insurance period of up to 19 years will have increase social security, so that they will be able to find an appropriate job within these nine months.

Current regulations state that a person with an insurance period from one to nine years (inclusive) has an unemployment allowance payment period of four months; nine to nineteen years of insurance period (inclusive) – six months; up to 20 years – nine months.

WM believes social insurance payments are to be performed using the special budget’s surplus. The ministry also believes that the 2009 allowance restrictions will improve the country’s social security and balance out the income and costs of the special budget.

On April 14, 2011, the Saeima adopted amendments to the Law of State Allowance Payment Period from 2009 to 2012, which state that social insurance payment (maternity, paternity, parent, illness and unemployment) restrictions are to be preserved until the end of 2014.

Ref: 102.109.109.3068