The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare plans a fund of 33.4 billion lek for social welfare in 2027, focusing on support for families in need, persons with disabilities, children and other categories in economic and social hardship. While presenting the 2027 draft budget to the Committee on Health and Social Welfare, Minister Klodiana Spahiu said the funding for the Social Welfare programme reaches 31.4 billion lek, while together with the social care programme and support for former political persecutees, total funding comes to 33.4 billion lek.
“The budget for 2027, for social protection and welfare, is a budget that reflects our vision for a fairer, more solid and more supportive society for every citizen, especially for those facing economic, social or health difficulties”, Spahiu said. She noted that, compared with 2014, the budget for Social Welfare has increased by 44%. One of the main funding items is the economic assistance scheme, for which 6.8 billion lek has been planned. According to the minister, the scheme aims to support around 59,000 families, while employment and vocational training programmes for their working-age members will continue in parallel.
“This support is not only financial. It is accompanied by employment programmes, vocational training and social reintegration, with the aim that families have real opportunities for a better and more sustainable life”, Spahiu said. The minister stressed that around 3,500 persons were integrated into the labour market over one year through employment and vocational training. She underlined that the additional controls carried out by the State Social Service have helped prevent abuse of the scheme’s benefits.
Another novelty of the draft budget is the planned monthly support for low-income families with children aged 0 to 5, a measure expected to start in July 2027. “We propose a new and important step: monthly support for low-income families with children aged 0-5, starting from July 2027. This measure aims to help families cope with the costs of raising children and to send a clear signal that the family remains at the centre of our policies”, Spahiu declared.
For this programme, a fund of 500 million lek is planned for 2027, while in the following years funding is expected to reach 1.1 billion lek. To support families and encourage birth rates, 2.8 billion lek has been allocated for the “Baby Bonus” programme. Meanwhile, for unemployed women with three or more children, coverage of social and health insurance contributions will continue. “For this policy, 870 million lek has been planned for 2027, 890 million lek for 2028 and 910 million lek for 2029, guaranteeing social protection and security for around 8,900 Albanian mothers”, the minister said.
A considerable part of the social welfare budget, around 19 billion lek, will be dedicated to persons with disabilities and their caregivers. Through this funding, support for around 99,000 beneficiaries is planned. Spahiu focused on the measures undertaken during 2026 for this category, citing the doubling of payments for 10,240 children with disabilities, with an additional fund of 1.3 billion lek, as well as the coverage of contribution periods for 14,657 personal assistants, with additional financing of 2.1 billion lek. In terms of social services, 1.4 billion lek has been planned for the network of social care institutions, while the Social Fund will be financed with 480 million lek for the development of services at local level, based on needs identified by municipalities.
Spahiu said that one of the new initiatives for 2027 is the establishment of the National Platform of Support for Extremely Poor Families, through which the aim is to address the needs of 2,763 families, in cooperation with local government, civil society, religious communities and development partners. “This is a challenge not only for the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, but for the entire Albanian society”, Spahiu stressed.