Only 8% of Extremadurans below the poverty line receive the minimum vital income

It was launched almost two years ago, but so far it has not lived up to its expectations. The minimum vital income (IMV) is reaching fewer people than expected due to the complexity of its management. In fact, in Extremadura, only 8.45% of those living below the poverty line receive this help for those who lack financial resources to cover their basic needs, according to a report by the Association of Service Directors and Managers Social.

Now the central government, within the response plan to mitigate the economic consequences caused by the war in Ukraine, will increase the amount of this aid by 15% over the next three months. However, in this region many of those who meet the requirements still do not have the IMV or have been waiting for it for months.

Last year, 25,154 people from Extremadura received the minimum vital income, with an average benefit of 2,071 euros per year.

In total, the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration allocated 52 million euros to the IMV in Extremadura. They are ten more than in 2020, when 22,526 people benefited from the minimum income.

Despite this increase, the IMV is insufficient, since in Extremadura there are, according to the report of the Association of Directors and Managers of Social Services, 297,720 people below the poverty line, which corresponds to almost 30% of the population total of this autonomous community.

This means that they live in households that are suffering from severe poverty, where income does not exceed 6,417 euros, according to the latest data from the INE Living Conditions Survey.

But there is more, the Arope indicator created by the European Network for the Fight against Poverty and Social Exclusion, which measures which people are at risk of social exclusion and poverty, does not leave Extremadura in a good place either. Their percentage amounts to 38.7% in this region and the national average to 26.4%.

With that figure, this community presents the worst situation in the country. The average income of Extremadurans is 9,147 euros per year, the lowest figure of all the autonomous communities. The country’s average is 12,292, according to the Living Conditions Survey.

amount

The amount that a family unit receives from the IMV ranges from 491 euros per month for people who live alone to 1,081 for families of two adults and three or more children. With the 15% increase, the amount will be 565 euros up to 1,243.

The figure varies depending on the income and the components of the family unit in an aid that has been fraught with controversy since its inception. “You request it today, but they can grant it to you after eight months,” say social workers from associations in Extremadura who inform vulnerable families. “There is a lack of human resources in Social Security to speed up the management of this aid,” they add.

Meanwhile, so that the time that the applicants are waiting to receive the IMV they can have income, they usually access the guaranteed Extremaduran income, another different aid. «The problem comes when they receive the minimum vital income, which is retroactive since it is requested. It is at that moment when the income rises and the Board asks that they return money from the guaranteed Extremaduran income that they have already spent and do not have, ”explain the social workers, who believe that it is a higher priority that the help reaches those who need it instead of to raise 15% to those who already receive it.

“In any case, it is the first news we have. They have not informed us yet, ”said a social worker who constantly attends to people who ask about the minimum vital income on Tuesday.