The maximum amount that ensures access to the cold-month allowance will be higher, as a Government decision to this effect provides. According to the authorities, more families will now be able to benefit from 700 lei a month that is allocated for November-March, IPN reports.

Under the draft, the multiplier for the minimum guaranteed monthly income used to determine who can benefit from the cold-month allowance was raised from 2.2 to 2.6. This way, the sum for adults is raised from 2,998.6 lei (=1,363 * 2.2) to 3,543.8 lei (= 1,363 lei * 2.6), by 545.2 lei, while for children – from 3,119.6 lei (= 1,418 lei * 2.2) to 3,686.8 lei (= 1,418 lei * 2.6), by 567.2 lei.

Also, the period for taking the decision concerning the provision or non-provision of social assistance or the cold-month allowance was extended to 40 workdays of the registration of the application with all the necessary documents, given the heavier workload of the personnel of social assistance bodies following the implementation of new social protection measures intended for the disfavored population during the cold period of the year.

According to the National House of Social Insurance, the payment lists for November 2022 on December 13, 2022 included 184,446 recipients of the cold-month allowance.