The Flemish incentive premium for those who take informal care leave has had little success. The premium was launched in March 2021, but was requested only 25 times last year. This is evident from figures that Flemish MP Yves Buysse (Vlaams Belang) has requested from the Minister of Work and Social Economy Hilde Crevits (CD&V).
Since 1 September 2020, an employee who is recognized as a carer can take informal care leave and receive an interruption allowance from the NEO for this. To further support this, Flemish minister Crevits announced in March 2021 that Flanders would grant an additional incentive premium on top of the federal intervention, which varies from 68 euros to 577 euros.
But figures show that only 25 applications were submitted in 2021. All 25 applications were also approved. Due to the limited number of applications and awards, only 7,000 euros was paid out in 2021. According to Minister Crevits, the low number of applications can be explained by the fact that there are also few informal carers who request a thematic leave for informal care.
Crevits continues to defend the incentive bonus: “Despite the low number of applications submitted for the time being, this is an important measure to support the commitment of informal carers and improve the work-life balance”.
According to Vlaams Belang MP Buysse, the low number of applications mainly shows that there is something wrong with communication about the existence of the premium and in the exchange of data between the federal and the Flemish level. “It is clear that there are a lot of people who qualify for this premium, but are not informed about this,” says Buysse,
Buysse believes that the incentive premium should be automatically linked to the recognition of informal carers with an interruption allowance. “However, as long as care remains fragmented across the different levels, it will never be possible to solve the problems in this domain,” concludes Buysse.
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