Around 3,000 families - between 9,000 and 12,000 people - will benefit from the social income scheme that the regional government is to introduce next year, for which a budget of 20 million euros is to be allocated.
President Armengol, Vice-President Barceló and the social services minister, Fina Santiago, have explained that this income will ensure that all families in the Balearics are able to cover the cost of basic necessities. It will range from 428 to 776 euros per month, dependent on the size of families. The priority for 2016 will be families with children. They will receive on average 680 euros. In the following years, other groups will be included in the scheme, such as the over-55s without children in 2017.
Santiago established that the income will be regulated by law and so, following cabinet approval, it will be presented to parliament in the middle of November, with applications commencing by April and the first payments being made in that month or in May.
Those who receive this benefit will need to have been resident in the Balearics for three years and to be able to show that they don’t have any income. The SOIB employment service will also be doing all it can to find them work and to integrate them into the labour market. The social income will not mean the end of the current minimum income system for those at risk of social exclusion and who have not been resident for three years.