Latvia’s Welfare Ministry hopes to increase the country’s childcare allowance to EUR 422 per month in the 2026 national budget, the Saeima (Parliament) Social and Labour Affairs Committee was told at a meeting on Wednesday.
The lawmakers were discussing four citizen initiatives calling for an increase in various allowances for families with children. Ministry representatives were there to present its plans on how to review these petitions.
The ministry’s parliamentary secretary, Reinis Uzulnieks, told MPs that the ministry’s priorities next year will be to increase the childcare allowance and to ensure that all families have access to it. Other priorities include a review of the childbirth allowance and the foster care allowance.
At present, the childcare allowance in Lavia is EUR 171/month. The Welfare Ministry is proposing an abolishment of the allowance for children aged between 1.5 and two years, instead setting the allowance for children up to the age of 18 months at 50% of the country’s median income. This would cost the state around EUR 71.4 million per year.
With an eye toward higher consumer prices, the ministry also hopes to increase the childbirth allowance to EUR 741. This would require EUR 4.6 million in the 2026 budget.
The deputy state secretary at the Welfare Ministry, Diana Jakaite, said at the meeting that the state allowance for families is much appreciated by people in Latvia, and so the ministry feels that it is particularly important to increase the per-child family allowance from EUR 25 to EUR 50.
The ministry’s plans for a review of all allowances is expected to cost the state a total of EUR 133 million.
Source: BNS
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