Government to retain income criteria for child benefits despite objections

The government will retain income criteria for child benefits for families with three or more children, despite calls from MPs and social organisations for their abolition, the House labour committee heard on Tuesday. Speaking after the meeting, committee chairman and Akel MP Giorgos Koukoumas criticised the government’s refusal to accept proposed amendments to the child benefit bill. “The government made it clear today that it will not listen to parliament, large families, families with three children, single parents, trade unions or the Commissioner for Children’s Rights,” he said. Although the bill includes some improvements, Koukoumas argued that it falls far short of meeting the needs of modern families, particularly single-parent households, which he said would see little benefit from the proposed changes. He also accused President Nikos Christodoulides of failing to honour election pledges to improve support for single parents and abolish income and property criteria for larger families, including those with dependent university students. According to Koukoumas, the proposed increases in child benefits amount to just €60 annually, or €5 per month per child, for one category of recipients, and €27 annually, or less than €2.50 per month, for another. Drawing comparisons with other European countries, Koukoumas said Germany provides €255 per month per child without income criteria, Luxembourg offers benefits starting at €300, and Poland provides €185, while the maximum monthly benefit in Cyprus currently stands at €49 and could rise to around €53 or €54. He also criticised the government’s rejection of a mechanism to automatically adjust income thresholds annually in line with inflation. Koukoumas said Cyprus spends less than one per cent of its GDP on family and child support, less than half the European average. He cited annual per capita spending of €277 in Cyprus compared with an EU average of €830. He called for budget surpluses to be redirected towards households struggling with the cost of living rather than being retained by the government. Meanwhile, Diko MP Andreas Apostolou welcomed the proposed legislation as a step towards extending financial support to several thousand additional families through child benefits and nursery subsidies, but said further improvements were necessary. “Child benefit is the state’s most targeted policy for supporting families, which are the foundation of a country,” he said, describing family support as a national duty. Apostolou called for a larger budget and higher income thresholds, particularly as the number of children in a household increases. He argued that income criteria for large families should either be abolished or raised substantially, while university students should continue to count as dependent children when calculating eligibility. Apostolou also announced that the social welfare deputy ministry had formally accepted his proposal to allow Cypriot families returning from abroad to apply for child benefits from their first day back in Cyprus. Apostolou added that Diko, as a party supporting the government, had a particular responsibility to secure further improvements for families and young couples. He said the party had already included additional proposals to expand the child benefit scheme among its suggested amendments to the 2027 state budget.