Bulgaria proposes limiting child benefit suspensions for school absences

The Bulgarian Council of Ministers has submitted a bill to the National Assembly to amend the Law on Family Assistance for Children. The proposal seeks to change how child benefits are penalized due to unexcused school absences.

Under the current rules, families can lose benefits for an entire year. The new proposal suggests that benefits should only be suspended for the specific month in which the unexcused absences occurred. For children in mandatory preschool groups, the penalty would trigger after more than three unexcused absences in a month. For students, the threshold is five unexcused school hours within the same period.

The government's motivation for this change is that the existing one-year ban has not effectively encouraged school attendance. According to the Social Assistance Agency, the long-term suspension of aid can actually have a counterproductive effect, potentially leading to children dropping out of the educational process entirely. The bill also aims to eliminate the 12-month ban on re-applying for assistance. The Amalipe Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance has expressed support for the change, noting that similar concerns regarding the 2019 sanctions were raised by educators at the time.