Child increases and protected amount will be removed on 1 April 2024
06.03.2024
The gradual implementation of legislative changes concerning unemployment benefits progresses in April, as the child increases and protected amount of unemployment benefits are completely removed starting from 1 April 2024.
Payment of child increases ends
Child increases to unemployment allowances will be removed starting from 1 April 2024. The child increases will be paid until 31 March 2024, even if the application is submitted to the Unemployment Fund after 1 April 2024.
The removal of the protective amount of the unemployment benefit
The protected amount refers to the amount of wage income that, for example, a part-time worker has been able to earn without reducing their unemployment allowance.
The protected amount has been 279 euros for four-week application periods and 300 euros for monthly application periods. Read more about adjusted earnings-related allowance here.
After the legislative change unemployment benefits will not have a protected amount. This means that every euro earned will reduce the amount of unemployment allowance by 50 cents.
The protected amount for wage income will be removed from application periods starting on or after 1 April 2024.
The legislative changes do not require any separate measures from the members of the Unemployment Fund, nor do they affect the application rhythm for earnings-related allowance. The Unemployment Fund will take the legislative changes into account automatically.
Upcoming legislative changes
The legislative changes regarding the extension and “euroization” of the employment condition have already been approved. Their implementation will commence in September 2024.
In addition, there are other legislative changes currently being procecced by the Parliament. These include, for example, staggering of earnings-related allowance and discontinuation of job alternation leave. These legislative changes have not yet been confirmed.
We will provide further information about upcoming legislative changes in the coming months. For the most up-to-date information on all confirmed and planned legislative changes, please visit our Legislative Changes 2024 section.
Examples
| How is my adjusted daily allowance calculated after 1 April 2024? |
If you are paid a salary of 200 € during the application period, half of it (100 €) will reduce the amount of the full earnings-related allowance. If your full daily allowance is 1100 € / month, the adjusted daily allowance would be 1100 € - 100 € = 1000 €. |
| Will the protective amount be taken into account in my application if my application period begins in March but ends in April? | Yes, the protective amount will be taken into account for application periods starting in March. The removal of the protective amount only applies to application periods beginning on 1 April 2024 or later. |
| My application period starts in March but ends in April. Will I be paid child increases for the application period? | The child increases are paid for the application dates until 31 March 2024. The increases will not be paid starting from 1 April 2024. |