The birth incentive, which is in part financed by Lagoa council, was published in the Government Gazette on Monday and introduced in the municipality with immediate effect.
It consists of a one-off payment of €250 and the “reimbursement of expenditure in the Lagoa Municipality to a value of €1,250, made during the first two years of the child’s life, on the purchasing of goods and/or services considered indispensable to a healthy and harmonious development.”
In the regulations published in the Government Gazette it explains that the benefit is part of “a set of social intervention measures, which aim to dignify and increase the quality of life of its citizens, by implementing measures to support families, promote access to housing and essential goods, and provide options and services with a view to social development.”
This particular measure, it goes on, aims to “on one hand to increase the birth rate, and secondly, the settling and improvement of living conditions of families in the city.”
“The municipality of Lagoa, much like the country in general, has seen the growth of an aged population while births decrease, which has had effects on the renewal of generations”, the statute states, adding “it is therefore necessary to promote mechanisms to support socially and economically disadvantaged individuals and families, but also and simultaneously, foster family incentive policies, as pillars of socialisation, personal development and of the community, regardless of their socio-economic condition.”
To access the incentive one of the essential conditions established by the Town Hall is that the child is registered as from Lagoa, and lives in the
municipality.
Families must have lived in Lagoa for over two consecutive years and be registered therein at least a year before the child’s birth.
The other essential condition is that the applicant or applicants have not accumulated any debts in Lagoa Municipality.
Applications must be submitted to Lagoa town hall within the six months following the baby’s birth date.
The council said it will also commit to paying “the cost of vaccinations not included on the national compulsory vaccination plan, but which are essential to preventing child health problems and which are not supported by the Portuguese State.”
It will further cover situations such as post-natal depression in the mother, after being duly proven with a doctor’s note, for psychological and/or psychiatric support.
In certain situations and conditions expenditure on fertility or in-vitro fertilisation will also be covered for families who, “in a proven fashion, with a doctor’s statement, have difficulties in conceiving a child without medical support.”