In a bid to combat child poverty in the country, the Spanish cabinet has approved draft proposals to introduce a universal child-rearing allowance.
The Spanish government has approved plans for a universal child-rearing benefit to combat child poverty in the country and bring it in line with other European countries.
Approved by the Spanish cabinet to coincide with World Children’s Day on November 20th, the draft proposal has also revealed divisions within government as the idea, at this point still an ‘institutional declaration’, does not go as far as the government’s minority partner would like.
Far-left junior coalition partner Sumar, led by Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz, has repeatedly put this measure on the table as one of its priorities for the state budget.
Minister for Youth and Children, Sira Rego, has defended the universal benefit as the “most effective” measure to combat “the unbearable levels of child poverty” that exist in Spain.
“Sumar and Izquierda Unida have placed this measure at the centre of their proposals for the next budget”, Rego added, stressing that her department is “clearly” committed to promoting this measure.
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The government plans to present a budget despite Catalan separatist Junts announcing that it will not support its legislative agenda, which complicates the path in the Congress of Deputies. It has failed to pass a new budget since 2023 due to the fragility of its parliamentary alliances.
Sumar is calling for €200 per month for all children up to the age of 18 regardless of family income. The Socialists (PSOE) advocate evaluating the aid already in place and consolidating it into a single measure before making a decision on amplifying the benefit or making it entirely universal.
In Spain 29.2 percent of households with children live below the poverty line, according to data from UNICEF. Spain consistently ranks among the EU countries with the worst child poverty figures.
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Spanish daily El País reports that the government is therefore committed to “taking steps towards a universal child benefit”, something available in most EU countries and demanded by academics and child protection organisations in Spain.
The PSOE-led government has upped a range of state benefits in recent years, many focused on the role of childhood poverty in lifelong social outcomes: “Economic inequality also shapes entire lives from childhood onwards,” the draft document states. “That’s why the Ministry of Youth and Children continues to promote policies to combat child poverty.”
The draft, if made into law, would also push compliance with the European Child Guarantee — a wider programme to combat the social exclusion of minors — and the extension of child support to Spain’s pre-existing minimum income benefit (IMV).
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These steps will be taken against the backdrop, the statement says, of “moving towards a child-rearing benefit designed on the basis of universality and fiscal equity.”
In the EU, 19 of the 27 member states had a universal child benefit in 2024, although with different amounts.
The Minister for Social Rights, Pablo Bustinduy, has repeatedly described Spain’s lack of such a measure as an “anomaly”.
Spain is the EU member state with the least capacity to reduce child poverty through aid, UNICEF has highlighted. The organisation has criticised the fact that Spain only invests 1.5 percent of GDP in social protection for children and families, compared to the European average of 2.4 percent.
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