16 September, Minsk /Elena Prus - BELTA/. The payment of a one-off material assistance to non-working pensioners and benefit recipients by labour, employment and social protection bodies will commence in all regions of Belarus after 20 September. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Valentina Koroleva. She explained that 3-4 days will be required for organisational and technical measures to ensure the implementation of Decree No. 417 "On one-off material assistance". This includes compiling statements, printing them, and sending them to post offices, banks, and pension delivery enterprises. The payment will be made in the manner established for the payment of pensions and benefits, Valentina Koroleva emphasised. Assistance in the amount of Br500 thousand will be paid to non-working pension recipients (regardless of the pension amount) – 1,847.7 thousand people. The decree also applies to benefit recipients. These are people receiving benefits for childcare up to the age of 3 (308.3 thousand), for childcare for a disabled child under 18, and receiving benefits for a child infected with HIV (11.9 thousand people), as well as benefits for the care of a Group I disabled person, the elderly aged 80 and over, who require constant care according to the conclusion of the Medical and Social Expert Commission (MSEC) or a state healthcare organisation (39.5 thousand people). Assistance will not be paid to those who, as of 1 September of the current year, were in state care, in places of detention, as well as pensioners receiving pensions from other states and from the Republic of Belarus in other states. If a person is unable to receive assistance in September due to personal circumstances, it will be paid to them in October. -0-

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