Armenian cabinet identifies new factor canceling social aid to  vulnerable families 

ArmInfo. The Armenian government has established a new factor excluding the provision of social assistance due to insecurity.

As stated in the explanation to the Cabinet of Ministers' decision of  April 3, if one of the family members is a guarantor under an  existing surety agreement to secure the execution of a loan agreement  and if the amount of the surety agreement exceeds 100,000 drams or  equivalent currency, then this family will be excluded from the list  of beneficiaries of social assistance.

The provisions regarding the guarantee are intended to apply to  relationships that arose after April 21, 2025, i.e. to applications  submitted after this date.

The authors of the initiative, represented by the Ministry of Social  Labor, recalled that the Decree of the Government of the Republic of  Armenia dated January 9, 2025 No. 27-N approved the Procedure for  assessing the new system for assessing family vulnerability, the  conditions, procedure for obtaining and providing data from  government agencies, local governments and organizations.

By the decision, the new system was introduced in the Kotayk and  Syunik regions of the Republic of Armenia from March 17, 2025, and  from January 1, 2026, the new assessment system will operate  throughout the republic.

The adoption of the legal act will also allow for the clarification  of the data provided by the State Population Register of the  Migration and Citizenship Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs  of the Republic of Armenia and , which will  ensure access to the necessary data obtained from the said bodies.

Back in July 2024, the Cabinet of Ministers established grounds for  refusing social assistance to a needy family. In particular, as  noted, when an able-bodied citizen applies for benefits, he will be  offered not social financial assistance, but a specific job. If the  citizen refuses the offered job, this will be grounds for refusing to  provide benefits. In the event of his consent, he will be given time  to receive benefits until he finds a job. In this regard, a new  institution was to be introduced, according to which an able-bodied  but non-working family member will be given an imputed income, the  amount, terms and cases of application of which will be determined by  a government decision. Thus, the number of times a citizen refuses  the work offered by the state, the amount of imputed income will  increase. "It will then be obvious to everyone that if a person  refuses the offered job, this means that he has another source of  income," explained the head of the Ministry of Social Labor Narek  Mkrtchyan.