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Publication
Youth

Flemish government's growth package

Image
Groeipakket
Publisher
SERV
Abstract

SERV (Social and Economic Council of Flanders) makes an evaluation in this report on the Growth Package of the Flemish government, which has been operational for 5 years after the federal government's competence was taken over by the communities. The Growth Package is an important policy instrument for supporting all families with children. The Flemish government supports the chances of all children to develop and to get an education with a freely spendable allowance. Flanders has more than one million households with one or more children. Some families need extra support to offer their children those opportunities taking into account their limited family income. Other families (also) face care challenges where they need extra support. The policy responds to the additional challenges of families due to the external shocks in the COVID period, rising energy prices and strong inflation with a number of crisis measures within the Growth Package. Starting from the point of view of families, SERV evaluates the different profiles of families and their needs, the different corresponding allowances, the impact of the Growth Package on income, disbursement and implementation, various policy changes and evaluation of the package. From that, this report draws a number of conclusions including: 1) Families easily find their way to the disbursement actors. 2) About 500,000 children are entitled to social benefits. That's almost one child in three. 3) Minimum wages and benefits alone are insufficient for families with children to participate fully in society. 4) Changes to the Growth Package are rather ad hoc, without thorough justification and calculation of all effects.

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