This chapter gives details of the benefits offered to families and single persons whose income is below the guaranteed minimum income.

The benefit described is social aid (ajutor social).

In what situation can I claim?

Social aid (ajutor social) is given to single persons or families who are legally resident in Romania if the net monthly income of the single person or family is below the guaranteed minimum income.

Social aid is also provided to homeless persons who are in need, on the basis of a declaration at their own liability that they have not requested social aid from other town halls.

Homeless persons receive social aid only for the period during which they are registered with the public social assistance services in the commune, town or sector in which they live.

What conditions do I need to meet?

To receive social aid, both families and single persons aged over 18 whose net monthly income is below the guaranteed minimum income must not own goods or property such as:

• buildings or other residential premises outside their own home;
• plots of land surrounding a home and the associated grounds and other plots of land in urban areas which have an area exceeding 1,000 square metres in urban areas and 2,000 square metres in rural areas;
• a car (or cars) and/or motorcycle (or motorcycles) less than 10 years old, except those which have been adapted for disabled persons or are intended to transport them;
• more than one car/motorcycle older than 10 years;
• vehicles: vans, trucks of any kind with or without trailers, caravans, buses, minibuses;
• boats, motor-boats, water scooters, yachts, except the boats necessary for the use of persons living in the Biosphere Reserve Danube Delta;
• agricultural machinery: tractor, self-propelled combine harvester;
• wood processing machinery: sawmill or other hydraulically, mechanically or electrically-operated wood processing machinery;
• bank deposits exceeding RON 3,000, except the interest;
• areas of land, animals and birds whose net annual production value exceeds EUR 1,000 for a single person or EUR 2,500 for a family;
• other items which are on the list of goods that result in exclusion from social aid, and which are listed in Appendix 4 to the Government Decision No.50 of 19 January 2011.

Recipients of social aid must notify the mayor, in writing, of any changes with regard to their home address, income and number of family members within 15 days following the date when the change occurred.

To receive social aid, one or more members of the receiving family who have reached the age of majority, are fit to work and are not in full-time education must perform monthly community service, at the mayor's request. If one of the persons lose their capacity to work temporarily or permanently, the community service obligation may be transferred to other persons in the family, with the agreement of the mayor.

What am I entitled to and how can I claim?

The amount of social aid paid to a single person or family is the difference between the monthly guaranteed minimum level of income and the net monthly income of the single person or family.

The monthly guaranteed minimum level of income depends on the number of persons in a family and the value of the reference social indicator (RSI), which is RON 525.5 on 1^st January 2023.

The monthly guaranteed minimum level of income is calculated as follows:

For each person over and above the fifth person in a family, the monthly guaranteed minimum income increases by 0.073 RSI (RON 38.36).

The minimum amount of social aid is RON 10 per month.

When determining the net monthly income of a single person or family, all income that the person or family members earned during the month before the application was submitted are taken into account. This income also includes income from state social insurance entitlements such as pensions, unemployment, allowances, benefits and aid of a permanent nature, legal maintenance obligations and other legal liabilities.

Family support allowance, state allowance for children, supplementary personal budgets, educational incentive for encouraging the participation in pre-school education of children from disadvantaged families, study grants, vocational scholarships, amounts granted to children with special educational needs, learning incentives and financial support granted to pupils under the “Money for School” national social protection programme, occasional sums granted from the state budget or local budgets as compensation or financial support for exceptional situations and income earned from casual work performed by day labourers are not taken into account.

Persons who are fit to work but have no income from wages or other activities are taken into account when determining the number of family members on the basis of which the family's net monthly income is calculated only if they prove that they are registered with the territorial employment agency and have not rejected a job or refused to participate in services to stimulate employment and vocational training which are offered by the agency.

The refusal of a job offer or the refusal to take part in the vocational training course for employment, qualification/retraining courses, provided by the territorial employment agencies entails the cessation of the right to social aid. In this case, the family or the individual may re-apply for aid after a period of 12 months from the date of the decision to cease the entitlement to social aid.

Beneficiaries can maintain their eligibility to social aid during 6 months from the start of employment if the employment relationship lasts for a period of at least 24 months.

To obtain social aid, the single person or representative of the family must submit an application comprising a request, a declaration at their own liability and documents proving the make-up of the family and the incomes of its members, where applicable. Applications are submitted to the mayor of the locality or sector where the single person or family lives.

The mayor will order a social assessment to be carried out within 15 working days following the date when the request was registered and will then issue an order to grant or refuse social aid within 10 working days after the social assessment was completed.

If an order to grant social aid is issued, social aid will be paid from the month following the time of the request by postal order, into the recipient's personal current account or card account, according to the recipient's preference.

After this entitlement has been established, mayors conduct social assessments every 6 months or whenever necessary.

The single beneficiary of social aid as well as members of their families receiving social aid are insured persons in the social health insurance system but are exempted from paying social health insurance contributions.

Jargon busters

• Reference social indicator (RSI): unit expressed in lei on the basis of which various social benefits in Romania, including social aid, are calculated.

Forms you may need to fill in

• Application and declaration at one's own liability for social aid

Know your rights

The links below give more information about your rights and obligations. These websites do not belong to the European Commission and do not represent the position of the European Commission on the subject concerned:

• Law on guaranteed minimum income
• Social aid services

Publications and websites of the European Commission:

• EU Social Security Coordination

Who do you need to contact?

You must contact the town hall of the village or town in which you live. Residents of Bucharest must contact the town hall of the sector in which they live.