Social services to request clients' bank statements directly from July 2027
From 1 July 2027, municipal social services in Latvia will be able to request clients' account statements directly from banks and other payment service providers when deciding on social assistance. People will no longer have to submit these statements themselves.
Municipal social services in Latvia will be able to obtain individuals' account statements directly from banks and other payment service providers starting 1 July 2027, when assessing income for social assistance or social services. This is set out in amendments to the Credit Institutions Law, which take effect on 11 November. Until now, people applying to a social service have had to submit such statements themselves.
What the amendments provide
A social service will be able to request a natural person's account statement to carry out the functions set out in the Law on Social Services and Social Assistance, following the procedure laid down in the Account Register Law. According to the explanatory note to the amendments, a statement will cover money movements over the previous three to twelve full calendar months, as well as the account balance at the start and end of that period. To enable this, Article 63 of the Credit Institutions Law has been supplemented with a new point 27.
Why statements are needed
Social assistance is granted after an assessment of a household's income and property. The social service grants the status of a poor or low-income household and pays benefits, including the guaranteed minimum income (GMI) benefit and the housing benefit. For this purpose, an income declaration is prepared, listing income for the last three months and irregular income for the previous twelve months. Bank or postal settlement system account statements are among the mandatory documents. Income assessment is also needed for some social services, such as long-term social care, where the ability to pay of the person and their dependants' providers is evaluated.
The ministry's rationale
The Ministry of Welfare says not all clients have internet banking or the computer skills to use it, so they often have to visit a bank in person. The certificates carry a fee, which is an extra burden on the budgets of poor and low-income people. The ministry also notes a risk that some clients hand their authentication credentials to others, creating a possibility of fraud.
According to ministry data, Latvia had 62,281 registered poor persons and 35,563 low-income persons in 2023.
