The federal government will provide an extra €210 million this year to compensate public social welfare centres for the impact of the unemployment benefit reform, Budget Minister Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V) told the House Finance Committee on Tuesday.
Under the reform, unemployment benefits are now limited to two years. People who have still not found work after that period can turn to the OCMW for a living wage. The government compensates the OCMWs for those additional costs.
A budget of €300 million had initially been set aside for this year, but the funds were exhausted after nine months.
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The government had expected around one third of people losing their unemployment benefits to move on to the living wage. In practice, that share has proved to be higher, Van Peteghem, of CD&V, told the committee.
He therefore submitted a budget adjustment to grant the OCMWs an additional €210 million.
