While all Member States have social safety nets in place, these incomes are not equally accessible across the EU to those who need them, be they young people, the working poor or people with disabilities. Minimum incomes are also not always adequate and adapted to the realities of life.
This is what the Commission will try to improve on 28 September with an EU Council recommendation on ‘adequate minimum incomes’ in the EU, which should, among other things, set a 2030 target for Member States to strengthen their systems, according to a draft seen by EUROPE.
This non-binding document will be presented against a background of increased risks for Europeans, with over 94 million already at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2020.
“In many Member States, there has been an increase in the risk of poverty for people living in (near) jobless households, an increase in the depth and persistence of poverty and a decrease in the impact of social transfers on poverty reduction”, the document warns. And the pandemic has highlighted significant gaps in the Member States “in terms of coverage, adequacy and capacity of social protection systems to provide a comprehensive response to social challenges”.
According to the Commission, 20% of unemployed people at risk of poverty in the EU do not receive any minimum benefit today and the rate of non-take-up of minimum income schemes is generally between 30 and 50% of the eligible population, the draft says. Information campaigns and facilitation of access to these benefits could therefore be launched to remedy this.
Some groups also face particular difficulties in accessing them, from age requirements to the need to have a permanent address and bank account.
In some Member States, means testing may also exclude a significant number of low-income households and the working poor from eligibility for minimum income schemes.
The “low frequency of income support reviews may also mean that benefits do not keep pace with increases in the cost of living, prices or inflation (particularly for food and energy), further reducing their adequacy”, the document adds. The setting and revaluation of the level of minimum income benefits is also not necessarily based on a sound methodology or on statistically based benchmarks or indicators.
The Commission will also seek to improve coordination between income support policies and incentives for (re)integration into the labour market with positive incentives to take up a job while retaining the right to minimum income for a certain period of time.
Regarding adequacy, the Commission should therefore recommend that Member States put in place strong social safety nets that guarantee a decent standard of living at all stages of life.
Member States would be required to set the level of income support using “a transparent and robust methodology, defined in legislation and involving relevant stakeholders. The methodology should take into account all sources of income, the income of a low-wage or minimum-wage worker, living standards, price levels and related developments”.
Income support should progressively raise the income of those without sufficient resources “to a level at least equivalent to the national at-risk-of-poverty line, the monetary value of necessary goods and services (including adequate food, housing, health care and essential services) or other comparable levels established by national law or practice”.
Member States that do not already do so will also be recommended to review the level of support annually.
Member States will also have to set transparent and non-discriminatory eligibility criteria for benefits, regardless of age or the existence of a permanent address.
Regarding access to work, it will be recommended to preserve the possibility of combining income support with in-work income, with a gradual phasing out of income support and the option of maintaining benefits during trial periods or internships and short-term or irregular work. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)