2024 Budget: No energy allowance for low-income families; Healthcare benefit not rising

The outgoing Ruttie IV Cabinet doesn’t intend to pay low-income households the 1,300 energy allowance again next year. Plans to increase the healthcare allowance also didn’t make it into the national budget for 2024, sources close to the government told NOS.

The government set up the energy allowance to compensate people with the lowest incomes for the sudden spike in energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. The measure was set to expire next year. Still, after the Central Planning Office warned that poverty would rise significantly if the government didn’t intervene, many expected that the Cabinet would extend the allowance.

Rising the healthcare allowance was another somewhat targeted measure considered to help low-income families, but it also didn’t make it into the budget, the broadcaster’s sources said.

The outgoing Cabinet reached an agreement on the budget for 2024 on Wednesday night. Earlier on Wednesday, it leaked that the government allocated 2 billion euros for purchasing power measures. Sources told ANP that the money would go to increasing the rent allowance and child-related budget.