Pay Rise for Personal Assistants and Increased Financial Support for People with Disabilities

Social welfare payments in Bulgaria have been converted into euros, with monthly financial support for people with disabilities increasing by 19.7%. Personal assistants are also set to receive higher wages. Despite the absence of an approved state budget, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy has assured recipients that all social payments are guaranteed.

Silvia Arsenova, who has epilepsy, currently receives around €80 a month in financial support — an amount she says does not cover her medication and dietary supplements.

“I always followed special offers, when prices were 20 to 25 leva lower. Otherwise, they would have been over 250 leva,” she said.

Since the beginning of the year, the poverty line has been raised. Monthly financial support for people with disabilities is linked to this threshold. Around 770,000 people are expected to receive the increased assistance in February. According to the Social Ministry, the lack of an adopted state budget will not affect payments.

“The funds are guaranteed, so citizens will continue to receive their benefits regularly, now in the new euro amounts,” said Lyubomira Arshinkova, an expert at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy.

Silvia hopes the higher support will now be enough to cover her medication costs.

“I’ll have to pay much less out of pocket. That’s still 30 leva — for me, 30 leva is one box, as they say,” she explained.

From next month, around 83,000 personal assistants supporting people with disabilities will also receive higher pay. Mariyana expects her salary to rise by about €100. She says the cost of her daughter’s medication has increased in recent months.

“What worries me is the rise in prices. When you have a close family member with a disability, expenses are much higher,” she said.

She hopes her first salary paid in euros will not be delayed, as her last payment in leva was. The Social Ministry says all benefits have been converted into euros at the official exchange rate set by the Bulgarian National Bank.

“No action is required from citizens,” Arshinkova added. “Only if there is a change in their bank account or if they wish to change the way they receive payments should they submit an application to the Social Assistance Directorate at their current address.”

Payments of social benefits, both via bank transfer and through post offices, are due to begin on 15 January.