Schemes ensuring a minimum income are essential for poverty alleviation. Various studies compare minimum income systems across the EU but fail to provide information on their impact on real people or consistent methods for assessing how the levels of income set in each country relate to the actual living standards and expectations of its citizens.

Host Country : Belgium

Place and date : Namur, 26.11.2010

Peer countries : Austria - Cyprus - Finland - France - Ireland - Italy - Luxembourg - Sweden

Stakeholders : EAPN

A number of EU countries now use "reference budgets", which measure the cost of a list of core items required for a socially acceptable standard of living across different households, as part of the establishment of minimum income levels. Currently, the methods used vary but there are calls for an EU standard.

In Belgium, a new approach combines a scientific framework with input from focus groups involving people in poverty. Results are comparable to data in the EU-SILC and support demands by social services to raise Belgian minimum income schemes to the level used in the EU to define the at-risk-of-poverty threshold.

The Peer Review will provide an opportunity to learn about the Belgian experience of developing a reference budget with public participation, to share the experiences of other countries, and consider how to develop a common method for assessing acceptable living standards.  

Peer Review manager

Ms Renate Haupfleisch (ÖSB Consulting GmbH)