Law on Social Protection
Law 24/2011 and Constitutional Court decision 117/2022 govern social assistance, care allowances and social services. Describe household, income, assets, health and needs to the social work centre.
Avangarda does not provide legal representation. These materials are here to inform and to make rights easier to understand. For a concrete legal procedure, contact a lawyer, legal aid service or the relevant institution.
Social rights and support services
Serbia’s Social Protection Law regulates financial social assistance, the allowance for assistance and care, and support services for people unable to meet basic needs or facing serious barriers in daily life. A financial entitlement differs from a service: home assistance, day services or support for independent living have their own eligibility, assessment and organisation.
Explain household composition, income, property and the specific need to the social work centre. Financial social assistance involves statutory income and property conditions. The care allowance involves assessing the need for another person’s assistance through the relevant procedure. For example, a household after job loss and a person needing assistance with everyday activities may seek different entitlements. One application does not automatically establish the conditions for the other. Supply the information and documents required for the particular entitlement.
Users have rights to understandable information, participation, privacy and confidentiality within the statutory framework. For a local service, check the available provider, access conditions and financing; the law does not give everyone every service or an identical payment. A complaint about a provider’s conduct or service quality differs from an appeal against an administrative decision on a financial entitlement.
Article 103 provides an appeal against the relevant centre decision to the competent second-instance administrative authority: the ministry, the provincial authority for Vojvodina or Belgrade’s city administration, according to territory and entitlement. Administrative litigation may challenge the final decision. Keep the decision and check its notice of legal remedies. An objection to the amount should address the facts established and the eligibility conditions applied.
The current citation is Official Gazette 24/2011 and 117/2022, Constitutional Court decision IUz-332/2015 of 21 April 2022. Article 80 paragraphs 3 and 4 were declared unconstitutional and ceased to apply. Their former basis for reducing or ending material support through an activation agreement, and delegation of measures to government, are not current law. This did not abolish all other conditions. Read the ministry’s original PDF together with the decision linked below; that PDF alone is not an up-to-date consolidation.
Avangarda’s informative overview uses editorial, not official, translations. For an individual case, check the current legislation and seek qualified legal help where necessary.
What is this for?
Distinguishes monetary entitlements, services and service-user protection.
Who can use it?
Individuals and families meeting conditions, social work centres and providers.
When should it be used?
For assistance, care, support or challenging an entitlement decision.