The government has made changes regarding state benefits for families raising children

Amendments have been made to the following Government Resolutions:

 

of June 28, 2013 No. 569 "On measures to implement the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On state benefits for families raising children";

of October 18, 2013 No. 919 "On approval of the Regulation on the procedure for suspending the activities of individual entrepreneurs, notaries, lawyers, individuals engaged in craft activities not registered as individual entrepreneurs, and individuals providing agro-tourism services not registered as individual entrepreneurs, due to childcare up to 3 years of age;

of September 18, 2020 No. 541 "On documents requested during the performance of administrative procedures.

The aforementioned resolutions have been brought into conformity with the Laws of the Republic of Belarus of July 8, 2024 No. 25-Z "On Amendments to Laws on State Benefits for Families Raising Children" and of April 22, 2024 No. 365-Z "On Amendments to Laws on Entrepreneurial Activity", and have also been adjusted based on application practice.

Key Innovations

 

I. Benefits for pregnancy and childbirth and for temporary incapacity for work due to childcare.

1. To increase the amount of benefits for pregnancy and childbirth and for temporary incapacity for work due to childcare, periods of childcare up to the age of 3 years are excluded from the calculation of sick leave if the childcare leave was interrupted due to the employer's liquidation.
2. The calculation of the average daily earnings is changed for mothers who are going on their second (subsequent) maternity leave.

Thus, for women who were on childcare leave up to the age of 3 years for at least one day during the calculation period (18 months), the right is granted to choose a more favorable average daily earnings for the calculation of maternity benefit – either from actual earnings or from the amounts of previous maternity benefits.

Practice shows that a number of women are active in the labor market and work part-time during childcare leave until their child reaches the age of 3, and during this leave (or immediately after its termination) plan a second (subsequent) maternity leave. Due to part-time employment, the wages of such mothers are low, which reduces the amount of the next maternity benefit. The norm of the resolution excludes these risks for the payment of sick leave for expectant mothers.

II. Benefits for the birth and upbringing of children.

1. The place of assignment of child benefits for individuals who independently pay mandatory insurance contributions to the Social Protection Fund has been specified.

If in a full family the father (stepfather) works under an employment contract, and the mother (stepmother) is:

a notary, a lawyer, an individual entrepreneur - benefits are assigned to the mother at the labor, employment and social protection authority in accordance with her place of residence (place of stay);

a craftsperson or engaged in agro-tourism activities, or other independent activities – benefits are assigned at the place of work of the father (stepfather).

Exception! For those working under an employment contract in a commercial organization with up to 15 employees inclusive, benefits are assigned at the labor, employment and social protection authorities.

2. The possibility of paying benefits to another parent in a full family (without changing the place of payment) has been provided in the event that the parent to whom the benefit is assigned is recognized as partially incapacitated by court order or if they have a disease that prevents them from performing parental duties.

3. The list of documents that may be requested by benefit assignment commissions for making decisions on the assignment of benefits for childcare up to 3 years of age, a child with a disability under 18 years of age, has been supplemented:

on the registration of an individual as a taxpayer of professional income – is requested on the website of the Ministry of Taxes and Duties;

Regarding the payment of the craft fee and the decision made to engage in agro-tourism activities – this information is requested from local district executive committees and city administrations.

For reference. Artisans and persons engaged in agro-tourism activities may pay a fee or a tax on professional income. Individuals engaged in independent professional activities pay a tax on professional income.

When engaged in craft activities or agro-tourism activities, the childcare allowance for a child under 3 years of age is paid at a rate of 50%, and the childcare allowance for a disabled child under 18 years of age is not paid.

Engaging in independent professional activities does not affect the payment of these allowances.

4. The documents based on which children born out of wedlock are registered within the mother's family have been specified.

These include a certificate from the civil registry office containing information from the birth record (if the father's entry in the child's birth record was made based on the application of an unmarried mother), or a certificate of paternity establishment, unless otherwise stipulated by a Child Agreement, Alimony Payment Agreement, or court order (regarding the place of residence of children, alimony recovery, transfer of a child from one parent to another for upbringing, and other grounds).

5. A unified procedure for adjusting allowance amounts has been established.

From January 1, 2025, increases and decreases in allowance amounts will be implemented from the date of the circumstances leading to such changes.

For example, a change in the childcare allowance for a child under 3 years of age from 100% to 50% due to starting work for more than 0.5 positions, and from 50% to 100% if, after starting work, childcare leave until the child reaches 3 years of age is re-issued.

Attention! The procedure for terminating allowance payments remains the same – from the first day of the month following the month in which the circumstances leading to the termination of their payment arise.

6. It is clarified that the employment period when working under civil law contracts (the subject of which is the provision of services, performance of work, and creation of intellectual property objects) is determined based on the validity period of such contracts, and does not depend on the actual period of work performance.

7. Amendments have been made to the definition of employment periods for benefits for children over 3 years old from certain categories of families.

To be eligible for this benefit, the father (stepfather) in a full family, or the parent in a single-parent family, must be employed on the day of application and for at least 6 months in the year preceding the year of benefit assignment.

The Resolution introduces the following changes:

citizens registered as unemployed will be considered employed for the entire period of unemployment registration, if they are registered with the right to receive unemployment benefits – regardless of the period of unemployment benefit payment.

In the current version, to confirm 6 months of employment, a registration period with unemployment benefit payments for 26 calendar weeks is required;

periods of temporary incapacity for work due to pregnancy and childbirth, illness, or injury are included in the employment periods, and documents confirming such employment are specified – a sick leave certificate (temporary incapacity certificate) or an extract from medical documents.

8. The application form for benefit assignment has been approved in a new version.

III. The powers of commissions for the assignment of state benefits to families raising children and temporary incapacity benefits have been expanded.

The change concerns the procedure for assigning a childcare benefit up to 3 years of age in one and a half times the amount, provided for residents of settlements located in areas affected by radioactive contamination in the zone of subsequent resettlement or the zone with the right to resettlement.

To be granted the benefit, it is necessary to clarify the place of actual residence of the person caring for a child under 3 years of age. In this regard, commissions are granted the right to obtain, if necessary, confirmation of the place of actual residence of the person who is granted (has been granted) the right to the benefit, based on additional information, including an inspection report.

IV. Procedure for suspending self-employment due to caring for a child under 3 years of age for notaries, lawyers, individual entrepreneurs, artisans, and persons engaged in agro-tourism.

1. It is established that the suspension (resumption) of activity due to caring for a child under 3 years of age is carried out:

for notaries – by a decision of the Qualification Commission on Notarial Activities;

for lawyers – by the council of the territorial bar association.

2. Forms of notifications of suspension (resumption) of notarial and legal activities due to caring for a child under 3 years of age have been approved.

3. Individual entrepreneurs, artisans, and persons engaged in agro-tourism suspend (resume) their activities due to caring for a child under 3 years of age in accordance with the current procedure.

The application is submitted to the tax authority at the place of registration as a taxpayer (payer of fees). Simultaneously with the application, the following are submitted:

a birth certificate of a child under 3 years of age;

documents confirming the kinship with the child, or relationship by affinity, if the child's stepmother or stepfather applies.

V. Changes have been made to the list of documents and/or information independently requested by local executive bodies when carrying out administrative procedures upon applications from citizens.

1. The list has been supplemented with a certificate of the amount of (non-receipt of) benefit for caring for a disabled person of group I or a person who has reached the age of 80.

The change is due to the right, granted from January 1, 2025, to appoint benefits for children over 3 years old from certain categories of families for families with minor children, in which the elder child with a disability has reached the age of 18, has been assigned Group I disability, and one of the parents is caring for them and receiving the corresponding benefit.

This certificate will be requested when appointing benefits for children over 3 years old from certain categories of families in labor, employment, and social protection bodies.

In case of appointing this benefit at the place of work, service, study, postgraduate training in clinical residency, in regional centers of hygiene, epidemiology, and public health, Minsk city, city, district, zonal, district in cities centers of hygiene and epidemiology, the certificate is submitted by citizens independently.

2. The procedure for requesting information on notarial activities has been changed for making decisions on appointing benefits for caring for a Group I disabled person or a person who has reached the age of 80.

In order to optimize work processes and promptly obtain information, instead of sending requests to the Ministry of Justice, documents will be requested from the list of notaries posted in the public domain on the official website of the Ministry of Justice.

The resolution comes into force on January 1, 2025.