The TV set, washing machine and other domestic possessions will not be taken into account when a family will apply for cold-month allowances. Prime Minister Vlad Filat asked that these allowances be determined only based on the real income of the family. The Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family cannot yet say whether the number of recipients will rise and if the state can cover the related costs, Info-Prim Neo reports. The Premier made the request following changes made by the Government to the regulations concerning the method of determining and paying social benefit. Vlad Filat said the regulations should be improved and asked that his proposal be included in the final decision of the executive. Elena Capatina, head of the Labor Ministry’s press service, has told Info-Prim Neo that the requests made in the Government’s meeting will be discussed in the next meeting of the commission that is examining the modalities of providing social benefit. The changes that the executive approved refer to elderly persons who own farmland. Until now, in the case of the applicants who turned 75, the farmland wasn’t considered a source of livelihood. Now this provision will cover all the pensioners who apply for social benefit, starting with the age of 62. Elena Capatina said not all the elderly persons can cultivate the land and the incomes they earned or didn’t earn from the land hindered them from applying for allowances. Under the 2013 state budget, 448 million lei will go to provide social benefit, while 136 million lei – cold-month allowances.