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As with temporarily admitted persons from other countries, the existing assets are now included.
So far, around 60,000 people have fled from Ukraine to Switzerland, where they are given protection status S. He assumes that he will return home as soon as the war is over.
For this reason, the SODK conference of cantonal social directors decided on special rules for receiving social assistance for the first six months after the outbreak of war.
Assets of persons in need of protection will be taken into account in the future
In the case of people from Ukraine, assets such as jewelry, cars, but also bank assets or real estate in their home country are not taken into account when calculating whether they are entitled to social assistance.
This is in contrast to those temporarily admitted from other countries. So far, wealthy Ukrainians have also been able to receive social assistance.
However, this has led to increasing resentment, explains SODK Secretary General Gaby Szöllösy: “We noticed that there was a certain amount of public criticism of the different treatment of those temporarily admitted and those in need of protection. That’s why our Board of Directors discussed various options for how we should take into account the income and assets of people in need of protection in the future.”
As a first step, the SODK board has now decided to tighten the guidelines for receiving social assistance, as far as money withdrawals from Ukraine are concerned.
The new rule is: “If people with status S withdraw funds from bank accounts or other assets in Ukraine, these are to be counted against income”.
The only exception: the car
Larger assets located in Switzerland must also be counted again. This significantly increases the hurdle for receiving social assistance.
One exception, however, should remain for the time being: the car. «The car serves Ukrainians on their way home when they want to return. It is not opportune if we now force them to sell this car, so to speak, »says Szöllösy.
However, this is only valid until the end of the year. New recommendations on how to deal with vehicles and other assets such as jewelry are expected to be available in late autumn.