Minimum income support in Serbia: Adequacy of social assistance

Abstract

While some Member States of the European Union haven't developed their own national minimum income schemes (Greece and Italy), current legislative regulation in our country recognizes the right to universal material support to the poor population. The basic program of material support is achieved through social assistance payments, while the conditions and amount of financial assistance for beneficiaries are regulated by the Social Protection Law. The aims of this paper are to determine the adequacy of financial assistance as a concept in European practice in the context of right to minimum income support, review of the basic settings of this right in our country and to analyse the adequacy of social assistance payments level in relation to achievement of adequate living standard in the Republic of Serbia. Findings suggest that the amount of financial assistance is inadequate to uplift the social assistance beneficiaries above the absolute poverty line.

Dok pojedine članice Evropske unije nemaju nacionalno razvijene šeme podrške minimalnom prihodu (Grčka i Italija), aktuelno zakonodavno uređenje u našoj državi prepoznaje pravo na univerzalnu materijalnu podršku siromašnoj populaciji. Osnovni program materijalne podrške ostvaruje se kroz novčanu socijalnu pomoć, pri čemu su uslovi i visina naknade za korisnike propisani Zakonom o socijalnoj zaštiti. Ciljevi ovog rada su određivanje koncepta adekvatnosti novčane pomoći u evropskoj praksi u kontekstu ostvarivanja prava na podršku minimalnom dohotku, predstavljanje osnovnih postavki ovog prava u našoj državi i preispitivanje adekvatnosti nivoa isplata novčane socijalne pomoći u odnosu na postizanje odgovarajućeg životnog standarda u Republici Srbiji. Nalazi upućuju na zaključak da je visina novčane pomoći neadekvatna za izdizanje korisnika socijalne pomoći iznad apsolutnog praga siromaštva.