Goheung-gun, Relaxation of Support Obligation Criteria for Basic Livelihood Security Living Allowance

Exemption from Support Obligation Criteria for Households Including Elderly and Single Parents

[Goheung=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Chunsu] On the 28th, Goheung-gun, Jeollanam-do announced that since 2021, it has relaxed the selection criteria for basic livelihood security recipients, allowing more residents to receive livelihood benefits.

The Basic Livelihood Security system has been divided into basic livelihood, medical, housing, and education benefits according to household needs, applying different income criteria and support obligor standards for each benefit type.

Accordingly, starting next year, the ‘support obligor criteria’ will not be applied to households eligible for basic livelihood benefits that include elderly or single-parent families.

A support obligor refers to a direct lineal relative within the first degree of kinship or their spouse. Until now, even if the individual was suffering from poverty, if the income or assets of the support obligor were deemed sufficient, the individual was excluded from being selected as a recipient of basic livelihood security.

The support obligor criteria for basic livelihood security livelihood benefits were abolished in 2021 for recipient households including elderly or single-parent families, resulting in approximately 180,000 households nationwide newly receiving support.

In 2022, this will be expanded to all recipient households and completely abolished.

However, if the support obligor’s annual income exceeds 100 million KRW or assets exceed 900 million KRW, the support obligor criteria will continue to apply.

Also, in 2021, with the increase in the median income standard, the livelihood benefit for a single-person household will be paid at 548,349 KRW per month, an increase of about 4% (21,119 KRW) compared to this year, and for a four-person household, 1,462,887 KRW per month, an increase of about 2.68% (38,135 KRW).

Goheung-gun has secured the 2021 basic livelihood security budget to prepare for the revised system and is operating a focused publicity period regarding the system improvements.

A county official said, “We are guiding about 1,360 non-recipient poor households to discover target recipients intensively to eliminate welfare blind spots, and we will do our best to implement welfare administration that meets the needs of residents at their level.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.