Luxembourg - Social inclusion income and other social assistance benefits

This chapter provides information on everything you need to know about claiming a social inclusion income and other social assistance benefits.

If you have resided in another European Union country, these residence periods may be taken into account to determine your right to a social inclusion income and other social assistance benefits in Luxembourg.

In what situation can I claim?

Social inclusion income (Revenu d’inclusion sociale - REVIS)

If your income does not reach a certain threshold, deemed to be a subsistence level, the social inclusion income enables you to benefit from public financial assistance.

The REVIS aims to combat social exclusion, providing basic means of subsistence which can be associated to social and employment activation measures.

Cost-of-living subsidy (Allocation de vie chère)

To benefit from a cost-of-living subsidy, your household income must not exceed a certain threshold. The amount of the subsidy is determined based on the composition of your household (single or living with more than one other person).

Contribution to the cost of services provided as part of geriatric care

A "geriatric care" top-up may be paid to older people admitted to sheltered accommodation or living in hospital, but whose personal resources do not cover the accommodation costs (care costs) and personal needs.

Income for severely disabled people (Revenu pour personnes gravement handicapées)

Anybody may benefit from this allowance if they suffer from a severe disability which excludes them from a professional occupation corresponding to their individual needs or which prevents them from carrying out any work owing to the severity of their disabilities.

What conditions do I need to meet?

SOCIAL INCLUSION INCOME

Age conditions

You must be at least 25 years old, except:

if you are raising a child for whom you benefit from family allowance;
if you are pregnant (from 8 weeks prior to delivery);
if you are a carer for a beneficiary of the long term care insurance;
if you are unable to be in gainful employment following illness or disability.

Conditions of residency

you must be domiciled and effectively reside within the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg;
if you are not a national of Luxembourg, another Member State of the EU, the EEE or of the Swiss Confederation and you do not have refugee status, you must have resided in Luxembourg for at least five years over the course of the 20 years preceding the claim;
if you are a national of another Member State of the EU, the EEE or the Swiss Confederation, you do not have the right to the REVIS benefits during the first three months of your stay in Luxembourg.

Income conditions

you must have an income lower than the minimum wage set by law, either individually or with other people in your household. You can view the conditions on the Luxembourg government website;
the REVIS is set based on the composition of your household.

Special conditions

To benefit from the REVIS, you must also:

be seeking for a job while being registered as a job-seeker with the Agency for development of employment (Agence pour le développement de l’emploi – ADEM), unless exempt;
be prepared to exhaust all other options provided by Luxembourg or foreign legislation to improve your situation;
be fit to undergo occupational integration activities;
respect the cooperation agreement signed with the ADEM and participate in active employment measures proposed by this Agency;
collaborate with the National Social Inclusion Office (Office national d’inclusion sociale – ONIS);
not have deliberately left your previous job;
not benefit from any leave without pay;
not have reduced your working hours on your own initiative;
not have been dismissed for gross misconduct;
not be subject to detention under remand or any penalty depriving you of your freedom;
not leave the national territory for more than 35 days in a given calendar year and respond when summoned by the National Solidarity Fund (Fonds national de solidarité – FNS);
not pursue higher education.

COST-OF-LIVING SUBSIDY

You must fulfil the following conditions:

benefit from the right to stay in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, to be effectively domiciled and reside there;
having resided in Luxembourg for an uninterrupted period of 12 months immediately preceding the month during which the claim is lodged;
have, whether alone or jointly with people living with you, an annual income below a certain threshold.

CONTRIBUTION TO THE COST OF SERVICES PROVIDED AS PART OF GERIATRIC CARE

To benefit from this allowance, you must:

be admitted to a retirement home, a treatment centre, a medico-social establishment for an indeterminate period, or stay in a hospital and for this to be considered a case of simple accommodation;
not have sufficient income and/or savings to cover the cost of geriatric care and accommodation.

INCOME FOR SEVERELY DISABLED PEOPLE

To benefit from this allowance, you must:

be at least 18 years old;
present at least a 30% reduced ability to work because of a physical, mental, sensorial or psychological disability and/or owing to psychosocial difficulties aggravating the disability (diagnosed before the age of 65);
present a state of health incompatible with any strain of work;
legally reside, be domiciled and effectively reside in Luxembourg. For their part, non-EU nationals must have legally resided in Luxembourg for at least 5 years in the course of the last 20 years.

The person recognised as a disabled employee, who, due to reasons beyond their control, does not have access to paid employment and has resources less than the income for severely disabled persons can also benefit from the allowance.

What am I entitled to and how can I claim?

SOCIAL INCLUSION INCOME

You can make a claim to access the REVIS at the National Solidarity Fund (Fonds national de solidarité - FNS).

The social inclusion income consists of either an inclusion allowance or an activation allowance:

the inclusion allowance (allocation d’inclusion) is a financial support aimed at households, which ensures basic means of subsistence for persons who have no income or whose income does not reach a certain threshold;
the activation allowance (allocation d’activation) is a pay indemnity for persons participating in an activation measure.

The amount of the social inclusion income depends on the composition of your household. It constitutes the lower limit of the resources, below which in Luxembourg you are deemed to be living in poverty.

Below is the monthly amount of the inclusion allowance:

Basic flat rate amount per adult

EUR 837.55

Basic flat rate amount per child

EUR 260.04

Increase per child in case of single-parent household

Amount for common expenses per household

increase in case of children

EUR 76.83

EUR 837.55

EUR 125.68

COST-OF-LIVING SUBSIDY

The amount of the allowance is determined based on the composition of your household. The allowance may only be granted once a year for each claimant. This also applies in the event of any change to the composition of your household and/or your income situation. The allowance amounts can be viewed on the FNS website.

CONTRIBUTION TO THE COST OF SERVICES PROVIDED AS PART OF GERIATRIC CARE

The amount of the supplement arises from the difference between the accommodation costs and the income of the applicant, minus a tax-free amount intended to cover personal needs (pocket money).

To calculate the supplement, all the applicant's income is considered; furthermore, the claimant must have exhausted all their assets up to a certain threshold.

INCOME FOR SEVERELY DISABLED PEOPLE

Income for severely disabled people amounts to EUR 1,675.09.

Your potential professional or replacement income does have an impact on the amount of the benefit.

If your professional or replacement income amounts to less than 30% of the income for severely disabled people (i.e. EUR 502.53), it can be fully cumulated with the latter.

If your professional or replacement income is above EUR 502.53, the income for severely disabled people is decreased by the amount exceeding EUR 502.53.

Jargon busters

Agency for Development of Employment (Agence pour le développement de l’emploi - ADEM): public service in charge with guiding job seekers, establishing and paying unemployment benefits;
National Solidarity Fund (Fonds National de Solidarité - FNS): public institution with the role of managing and awarding social assistance benefits;
National Social Inclusion Office (Office national d’inclusion sociale – ONIS): public service in charge of the intensive follow-up of beneficiaries and the organisation of the stabilisation and/or activation measures;
EU - EEE: the 27 Member States of the European Union plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Forms you may need to fill in

Know your rights

The links below provide a legal definition of your rights. They are not European Commission websites and they do not represent the views of the Commission:

Social inclusion income:

Cost-of-living subsidy:

Contribution to the cost of services provided as part of geriatric care:

Commission publications and websites: