1. Child benefit payment. In 2021, child benefit payment amounts to 41 280 UAH.
At the birth of a child, parents must receive a one-off payment of 10 320 UAH. The remaining 30 960 UAH are paid in monthly installments of 860 UAH for the period of three years.
The new draft law approved by the Government envisages that from January 1, 2022, the child benefit amount will be 50 000 UAH. According to the draft law, the first one-off payment will constitute 25% of the total amount (12 500 UAH), and the remaining amount will be paid in monthly installments of 1041 UAH for 36 months period.
To claim the child benefit, you need to provide the following documents:
- Child’s birth certificate (or adoption approval for the guardians);
- Application of the father or the mother;
- Individual tax number and a copy of the passport.
You need to bring these documents to the social protection department at parents’ registration or actual residence*. Documents to claim child benefit must be submitted no later than 12 months after the birth of the child.
*Please note! Child benefit may be assigned at the place of actual residence (not official registration), but upon providing to the social protection authority a certificate confirming that the child benefit was not received at the place of registration.
2. Financial support to single mothers. Child benefit is an important issue for most single mothers.
At first, we need to define the term “single mother”. According to the Ukrainian legislature, single mothers are women bringing up children without the involvement of their fathers. Officially single women who bring up and sustain minor children are assigned the status of a single mother in Ukraine. The record of the father in the child’s birth certificate must be either absent or duly entered by authorized civil registry officials based on the mother’s statement. This category also includes women who decided to adopt a child while being single.
A widow bringing up a minor child is also eligible for this status if she has not divorced the deceased father of the child before his death. In such circumstances, an official confirmation of non-receiving the survivor’s pension or other aid is required.
Is a woman being in a civil union with the child’s father but not officially married to him, considered a single mother?
Such a woman is eligible for single mother benefit unless it is proven that the couple lives together, brings up children together, shares a household.
Is the mother eligible for single mother benefit after she is officially married?
A single mother remains eligible for financial support after she registers an official marriage. An exception is cases when the husband submits documents for the adoption of the child.
Single mothers are also entitled to social welfare. According to the Law of Ukraine “On state support to families with children”, they are eligible for child benefits. Under certain circumstances, single mothers can claim temporary financial aid. Payments to employed and unemployed single mothers are made after they apply to the relevant authority.
How to claim single mother benefits? To claim the benefit, you need to approach the department of social welfare at the place of actual residence or registration.
To apply for single mother benefit, the following documents are required:
1. Application.
2. Passport of a citizen of Ukraine.
3. Child’s birth certificate (or the adoption resolution, in case of an adoption).
4. The certificate confirming that the mother does not receive the survivor’s pension.
5. Extract from the civil registry office stating the grounds for entering information about the child’s father to the civil record (that information on the father is not available, or that it is entered on the basis of the mother’s statement).
6. Document confirming that the mother and the child live in the same household.
How long the single mother benefit is paid?
Payments are made on a monthly basis until the child turns 18, or until 23 if the child continues intramural full-time university education.
Single mother benefit is paid as a difference between 100% of the subsistence minimum for a child of relevant age and the total monthly average family income per one family member.
Maximum size of single mother benefit in 2021:
- Children up to 6 years of age: from July 1, 2021: 2013 UAH; from December 1, 2021: 2100 UAH.
- Children aged 6 to 18 years: from July 1, 2021: 2510 UAH; from December 1, 2021: 2618 UAH.
- Children aged 18 to 23 years, in case of training: from July 1, 2021: 2379 UAH; from December 1, 2021: 2481 UAH.
In addition to compulsory aid, single mothers are entitled to claim temporary public aid.
Under what circumstances temporary public aid can be claimed?
- Upon submission of a statement that the father of the child avoids paying alimony, or in case the father has no money to pay alimony or no seizable property in his disposition.
- If one of the parents is under arrest or on remand, hospitalized for treatment, recognized incapable or has been conscripted.
- If the father’s actual place of living is not identified.
To claim temporary aid, a single mother must submit the package of documents mentioned above. The temporary aid is calculated on the basis of the child’s age and the subsistence minimum set on the day of submission of the application. The acceptable minimal payment is 30%, but not exceeding 50% of the subsistence minimum set for children.