The chairman of the civic platform Stand Up.BG Maya Manolova called on the Minister of Social Affairs Ivaylo Ivanov not to exclude the most vulnerable - people with disabilities over 90% who use personal assistants from receiving Christmas allowances in the amount of 100 BGN. She did this with a letter to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, in which she warned that currently the MLSP experts calculate to the income of these people in addition to their social disability pension in the amount of 491 BGN and an additional allowance of 230 BGN. for foreign aid.
Thus, according to the ministry, these people would have an income above the poverty line (in the amount of 526 leva) and would not receive Christmas allowances. The former ombudsman signaled that this is not the case for them, because they have to give up this 230 leva in order to be able to use personal assistants and so their income is actually below the poverty line. “They don't actually receive this money“ – warns Manolova and urges:
"Mr. Minister, do not skimp on the most vulnerable!"
Therefore, the civic platform Stand Up.BG calls on the Minister of Social Affairs to restore justice for these approximately 5,000 Bulgarian citizens and for them to also receive Christmas allowances on the eve of the bright Christian holidays.
In her letter, Maya Manolova also requests that widow's allowances not be taken into account in the calculations of who will receive allowances, because in this way, it is the lonely elderly who will be excluded from support for Christmas.
From Stand Up.BG they also emphasize that their position is consistent, that allowances should be received not only by people with pensions below 526 BGN, but also by those with incomes below 1,000 BGN, so that they can meet the holidays more peacefully.