His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has directed the restructuring of the Social Welfare Progarmme of low-income citizens into an integrated programme worth Dhs28 billion instead of Dhs14 billion.

The move aimed at raising the annual social support allocation from Dhs2.7 billion to Dhs5 billion.

The directive of President Sheikh Mohamed embodies his keenness to support low-income Emirati families to ensure family and social stability and provide the citizens with a decent life.

The directive of the President of the State to provide this support — through the comprehensive social program that raises the budget from Dhs14 billion to Dhs28 billion — embodies His Highness’s keenness to provide various means of support to national families and citizens with low incomes to enhance family stability and in line with the system of community welfare and quality. The life that the UAE is keen to lay its foundations and consolidate its components for its citizens.

The support program through the Ministry of Community Development covers various basic axes for national families with limited income, including the head of the family’s allowance, the wife’s allowance, the children’s allowance, the financial support allocated for housing, and basic needs such as food, water, electricity and fuel, in addition to temporary financial support for unemployed citizens and researchers Unemployed citizens over the age of 45.

New allotments

In detail, the support program introduced four new allocations; They are: the housing allowance, the university education allowance, the allowance for unemployed citizens over the age of 45, and the allowance for the unemployed person looking for work. The four allowances aim to enable Emirati families with low incomes to obtain adequate housing, encourage outstanding children to enroll in university, and support the elderly of the citizens.

Housing allowance

The new programme includes a provision for housing ranging between Dhs1,500 per month, and Dhs2,500 per month in the case of independent housing until the family obtains government housing.

Applicants who live with parents or with any other family are entitled to 60% of these amounts.

This provision does not apply to those who obtain any other form of government housing subsidy, or they own a house registered in their name, and this provision depends upon obtaining government housing.

University Education

Among the new allocations included in the social support program and for the family, is the “university education allowance” for outstanding students, which embodies the state’s interest and encouragement for children to enroll in university education; The allowance is 3200 dirhams per month for outstanding high school students

Those who are enrolled in university studies (according to the requirements of the Education and Human Resources Council).

The allowance also includes regular students in diploma and university education programs according to the allowances for children for each family (between 2,400 and 800 dirhams) and with a maximum age of 25 years for the male/female student.

Dedicated to unemployed citizens over the age of 45

It is one of the new financial benefits within the social support program; where a fixed subsidy is granted starting from Dhs2,000 to Dhs5,000 per month according to the age of unemployed citizens, in addition to other allowances and allowances if the unemployed person is the head of a citizen family.

Dedicated to the unemployed person looking for a job

This allowance extends for 6 months, and amounts to Dhs5000 per month for each beneficiary, regardless of his age.

This allowance aims to financially empower the unemployed during the period of their search for a job.

Bonuses increased

The social support program has been keen to increase the allowances allocated to all family members.

This includes the three current bonuses. These are: the allowance for the head of the family, the allowance for the wife, and the allowance for children.

This step stems from the great importance that the Emirati leadership attaches to the family, as it is the basic foundation for building a cohesive society.

The allowance for the head of the family

It increases according to experience and years of work. This bonus has been increased to start from Dhs5,000 per month and then increase at a rate of Dhs2,000 per month for every 10 years of work experience until it reaches Dhs13,000.

So that the head of the family in the age group of 21-30 years will receive an amount of Dhs5000 per month, and the allowance for the age group from 30-40 years will be increased to reach Dhs7000, and the age group from 40-50 years will be Dhs9000, and the age group from 50-60 years will receive Dhs11,000, up to the age group of those over 60 years old, which amounts to Dhs13,000 per month.

This allowance is granted from the age of 30 and above, and the calculation of working years begins from the age of 21.

Wife's allowance

The new "social support programme" includes raising the wife's allowance to Dhs3,500, with the aim of raising the social support that low-income national families receive.

Children's allowance

The "social support program" includes increasing the children's allowance to Dhs2,400 per month for the first son, Dhs1,600 dirhams per month for the second and third son, and Dhs800 for the fourth son or more, to be spent until the age of 21 years.

This allowance applies to all cases, including the employee, the unemployed, and the job seeker that is, if the national head of the family has four children, in this case he is entitled to Dhs6400 per month as a children's allowance.

Inflation allowances

The program includes three types of bonuses.

These are:

— The food subsidy allowance,

— The electricity and water allowance, and

— The fuel allowance.

Food supplement allowance

Proceeding from the keenness of the UAE government to support its citizens, especially those with low incomes, the government bears 75% of food price inflation within this initiative.
This is a commitment to provide the necessary assistance to Emirati families, to enable them to meet the requirements of living and provide them with a decent life.

Electricity and water subsidy premium of 50%

This support is part of the government's strategy aimed at helping people with low incomes in various aspects of living, especially the basic ones. In these cases, the social support program provides a monthly subsidy of 50% for electricity consumption less than 4000 kilowatts, and a monthly water subsidy of 50% for water consumption less than 26,000 gallons.

Fuel subsidy premium

The program provides this type of support, to reduce the impact of fluctuations in fuel prices globally and out of the state's keenness to provide the basic needs of citizens with low incomes.
The program provides a monthly subsidy of 85% of the fuel price increase of Dhs2.1 per litre.

The married head of the family receives a monthly subsidy of 300 litres, while the working wife receives a subsidy of an additional 200 litres. Or the head of the family gets a subsidy of 400 litres if the wife does not have support.