The Government of Spain has refused to present the General State Budgets (PGE) 2024 after the early elections announced in Catalonia. The objective is now focused on the accounts for 2025 given the difficulty in reaching an agreement.
This decision will cause the 2023 PGE to be extended and, with them, some basic indicators for social aid and subsidies.
What happens to the IPREM without the PGE 2024
The IPREM or Public Indicator of Multiple Income has remained at 20 euros per day and 600 euros per month during the first months of the year while waiting for the General State Budgets.
The confirmation that there will be no PGE 2024 will freeze this indicator for now, although it cannot be ruled out that an increase could be approved by another means. In any case, it would not be the first time that the IPREM remains unchanged from one year to the next, although since 2020 it has registered a notable increase.
What aid does the IPREM affect?
The IPREM is a basic indicator for different aid and subsidies, since it is taken as a reference to calculate who has access to them.
For example, the unemployment benefit is calculated as a percentage of the IPREM. Specifically, it pays 80% of the IPREM in general and can reach 225% in the case of people with family members.
The Minimum Insertion Income is also calculated as 80% of the IPREM, the same as agricultural income.
It is also applied to non-contributory disability pensions to determine who can make work income compatible with receiving the benefit. Specifically, the limit of total income received by the pensioner may not exceed the sum of the IPREM plus the limit of the pension itself.
In addition, the IPREM data also establishes which people have the right to free legal assistance or who can access public housing, both limited price and basic.
Added to this is the electric social bonus, which can be accessed by cohabitation units with incomes less than 1.5 times the IPREM in 14 payments.
And, finally, many study scholarships, the granting of which is linked to not exceeding certain incomes that are calculated based on the IPREM.
What happens with the SMI and pension increases?
The extension of the 2024 PGE will not affect all indicators. The increase in the SMI that was approved in January is now in force and effective.
The same happens with the increase in pensions, which will not be affected by Pedro Sánchez’s resignation from the PGE 2024. In fact, like the SMI, it is a measure that is already being applied.
Nor will they depend on PGE officials to update their salaries. Before knowing that there would be no budgets, the Government announced when they would receive the agreed 2% increase in their salaries. They will do so in April or May, since this increase will be included in the Royal Decree Law on Urgent Measures against the war in Ukraine.
