The Spanish Government launches the wallet card, with money to buy food and basic hygiene products for families in a situation of poverty with dependent children. This system, which will start working in April, will be financed with the state section of the European Social Fund Plus. The program has more than 600 million euros over seven years and it is estimated that it will help around 70,000 families (10,000 annually) in this period.
This program replaces that of food banks, financed with the FEAD European Funds for disadvantaged people, as decided by Brussels. The Ministry of Social Rights and the communities agreed, at the end of 2021, to switch to the wallet card system.
The Minister of Social Rights, Pablo Bustinduy, defends that this system will allow “not having to go to the queues”. It represents “a decisive step to dignify social protection”, he pointed out.
Although food banks will no longer receive European funding, this will not imply that they will disappear, as they will be able to continue to operate with other public and private funding sources, according to Social Rights.
Food banks, united in the Spanish Federation of Food Banks (Fesbal), do not see it that way, who consider that the new system “will leave unprotected more than 350,000 families that do not meet the established criteria and hundreds of thousands of people who are forced to go to a food distribution center, homeless people, low-income people or undocumented immigrants, among others”.
Temporarily (from May to December), Social Rights will manage the process, until the communities put the system into operation, since they are the ones who have the powers. The decree approved yesterday by the Council of Ministers grants the direct concession, “on an exceptional basis and for humanitarian reasons”, of a grant to the Spanish Red Cross to launch this line of aid.
These wallet cards will be delivered by the autonomous communities (either from their social services or through the third sector entities that the administrations choose), which will have previously chosen the families that need this help. The requirement is that they have dependent children and that they do not exceed 40% of the average income. The amounts they receive will depend on the number of family members: an adult and a child, 130 euros per month; three people (adults and a child or an adult and two children), 160 euros; four people, 190, and 5 or more, 220 euros.
The card will be recharged every month, every two months or every three at the most, as decided by the communities, and each family will be able to have this help for one year. With this support, families will be able to buy in previously indicated establishments, with which an agreement will have been signed, which will also include the list of products to be purchased. An example: if you buy milk, you can pay with this card, but not alcohol. Yes, groceries, but no make-up. And, of course, fresh produce.
