The number of applicants for cold-month allowances is projected to increase by about 15,000. Minister of Labor, Social Protection and Family Valentina Buliga said the figure will rise following the exclusion of particular goods from the list of welfare indicators, including the color TV set, the refrigerator and the washing machine. Until now the families that owned such things could not apply for social benefit, IPN reports.

The minister stated that the state guaranteed minimum income on November 1 will rise to 720 lei from 680 lei at present. Thus, an additional chance is offered to the families on low incomes to benefit from cold-month allowances for the 2014-2015 cold period. The financial support provided by the state to pensioners, which was doubled on July 1, will not be taken into account in the case of pensioners.

“In time, the social benefit helped reduce poverty. Today there are no families living in extreme poverty, according to the last report by the Ministry of Economy. This means that any family entitled to social welfare receives assistance from the state and is no longer classed as living in conditions of extreme poverty,” Valentina Buliga said in an event held to sum up the results of an awareness-raising campaign aimed at informing the people about the social benefit programs and the cold-month allowances.

“We want the money provided by the state to be used according to their purpose, first of all for purchasing the necessary things for children.”

In the same connection, the minister said that those who received social benefit from the state unjustifiably were sued and returned about 2 million lei into the state budget.