The socially disadvantaged families of the municipality of Chisinau can benefit from cold-month allowances in the amount of 500 lei a month. The relevant application must be submitted to the local social assistance division by one of the family members. The decision about the provision of the cold-month allowance is taken within 15 workdays.

Contacted by IPN for details, the head of the General Social Assistance and Health Division Tatiana Bucharski said that after the application is received, they examine the data of the applicants, their revenues and decide if these can benefit from cold-month allowances. If the person does not meet the eligibility criteria to get social assistance, this can benefit only from cold-month allowances for five months – November-March.

The social assistance and/or cold-month allowances are intended for socially disadvantaged families. The monthly social assistance represents the difference between the minimum guaranteed income of the family and its global earnings.

As many as 2,623 families will receive social assistance and cold-month allowances for December totaling over 1.6 million lei, according to the data provided by the local houses of social insurance. 11,078 families will receive cold-month allowances totaling over 5.7 million lei.