Amendments to the Federal Law on State Benefits to Parents took effect in April 2022, to enable women to receive monthly pregnancy benefit with due account of the adjusted needs assessment rules. As of this date, 225,000 women have been assigned such benefits by the Pension Fund.
According to the amendments, the zero-income rule does not apply to expectant mothers if they file for the benefit on the 12th week of pregnancy and if six months of pregnancy fall on the period of calculation of the average per capita income. Thus, pregnancy is included in the list of objective reasons for the lack of earnings.
Wanted or seized assets, as well as assets purchased entirely with state support funds are excluded from the list of assets taken into account in the assessment of family needs. The deadlines for the submission of benefit applications are also extended. Now a woman can apply for the benefit any time after the 12th week of pregnancy. The benefit will be paid from the month she was registered with a healthcare establishment instead of the month she submitted her application to the PFR.
Please note that the Pension Fund has been assigning monthly benefits to pregnant women since July 2021. The benefit is paid to women from low-income families registered with a healthcare establishment during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The monthly income per family member shall not exceed the regional subsistence minimum per capita, and adult family members must have a confirmed income or a valid reason for its absence. There are requirements to family assets, too.
Feedback from the benefit applicants is monitored since the time the payments begin. Hence, rules for the assignment of benefits were amended and took effect on April 1 of this year.