Czech NGO representatives criticize proposed welfare reform, say it will not motivate people, but punish them
Organizations aiding the needy are taking exception to the Czech Government's proposed reform of welfare, which the Chamber of Deputies is now reviewing. In their view, the reform will not motivate people to resolve their difficult situations, but will tighten the rules for providing support. They are therefore proposing adjustments to the bill. The NGOs want to meet with the Labor Minister and with lawmakers about augmenting the law under discussion. Representatives of the Initiative for Equality, Fairness and Human Rights, an umbrella organization of 33 associations, companies and foundations, announced their plans at a press conference. Their members include Caritas Czech Republic (Charita ČR), Diaconia of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (Diakonie ČCE), Hope (Naděje), Life at 90 (Život 90) and People in Need (Člověk v tísni).
“It’s a pity that a model hasn’t been proposed to motivate people and help them to work better, even though that was probably the intention. The reform ultimately heads in a direction that punishes them,” said Pavla Aschermannová of the Rubicon (Rubikon) organization. According to Iva Kuchyňková of Caritas Czech Republic, it is not possible to force people in difficult life situations to change through restrictions.
According to the proposed reforms, four welfare benefits – the housing contribution, the housing supplement, the subsistence contribution and the per-child contribution – would be replaced by one benefit as of mid-2025. That benefit would comprise money for one’s children, housing and subsistence plus a work bonus. One application would be submitted and processed. Applicants’ assets and incomes would be assessed more thoroughly by the state to determine eligibility. The initiative is pointing out that local authorities will also be empowered by the reform to remove unemployed persons from the benefits rolls for as long as half a year for even minor infractions. Such people would lose their housing and subsistence benefit. If benefit recipients’ children do not attend compulsory schooling, their legal guardians will lose the per-child contribution.
According to Aschermannová, schoolchildren will not return to school under such circumstances. Jan Černý of People in Need pointed out that the failure to attend school is already being addressed by child welfare departments, and serious cases end in criminal prosecutions. After losing welfare benefits, families will risk losing their housing, Kuchyňková said. According to the initiative, the intention to provide money for housing according to customary rents in a particular locale has even been dropped from the reforms. The intention had been to limit trafficking in poverty, whereby the state contributes to perpetuating the overpriced, substandard apartment units or residential hotels rented by the poor. “An important promise presented by the Labor Ministry will not be in this bill. All that is left is intimidation: Whoever doesn’t obey, we’ll take away his money for a relatively long time,” Černý said.
The initiative also rejects the idea of calibrating the per-child support according to parents’ work activities or stopping the benefit when children do not attend compulsory schooling. The group is also against cutting housing money. The organizations believe the sanctions should be shortened to suspending payments for one month, or for three months in serious cases. They also recommend instituting a six-month protective period for youth aging out of children’s homes, people living institutional care, or persons released from prison.
The initiative wants to meet with the Labor Ministry and lawmakers about these adjustments. They believe their proposed alterations could be added to the bill being discussed in the Chamber of Deputies.
Experts, ministries, municipal associations, the ombudsman, Regional Authorities and unions have all taken exception to the format of the proposed reforms. According to the Labor Ministry, the comments it has received most frequently involved welfare for persons who have declared bankruptcy, means testing, the setup of per-child support, and the work bonus.
Proposals from the Initiative for Equality, Fairness and Human Rights
1. Loss of the housing and subsistence benefit when being sanctioned and removed from the list of those seeking employment
We propose preserving the level of housing support even when removing a member of a household from the list of those seeking employment, just as the law permits now.
2. Sanctioning a recipient by removing them from the Labor Office rolls for six months even for minor infractions of their obligations
We propose shortening the time of this sanction to one month for less serious wrongdoing and to three months for more serious violations. A protective period of six months should be created for persons released from correctional or medical institutions, from children’s homes, from detention facilities and from prisons.
3. Stopping the per-child benefit paid to parents as a sanction for children not attending compulsory schooling
We propose that the per-child benefit not be connected to either a child’s guardians’ work activity or to the attendance of compulsory schooling. If there are doubts about the benefit being used to benefit the child, then it is possible to transfer the appropriate amount directly to an organization working with the family or to the school itself.
4. Protective period for people released from prisons and other institutions
In the law on employment, which is also being adjusted as part of the amendment to the law on welfare, we propose introducing a protective period of six months for persons being released from prisons and other institutions.
