What the Ministry’s directive changed, and what remains
Until mid-2026, an overpaid inclusion allowance regularly ended in a demand for damages, often covering several months. A June 2026 directive of the Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy substantially changed the practice in the most common group of cases — those in which the amount changes because of changed circumstances.
The new amount applies from the month the decision is issued
Where it is established that, because of changed circumstances, a beneficiary is entitled to a higher or lower amount, the new amount is paid from the first day of the month in which the new decision is issued — not from the day the circumstances arose. For the past period no overpayment then arises at all, so there is no demand for repayment.
In addition, beneficiaries who were repaying overpaid amounts have their existing debt written off, and the amounts they have already repaid are returned to them by the regional office.
What the directive changed in concrete terms
Before the directive, a decision issued because of changed circumstances took effect retroactively, from the day those circumstances arose. Everything paid in the meantime above the newly established amount automatically became an overpayment, so along with a lower decision the beneficiary also received a calculation of debt for past months. By moving the effect to the first day of the month in which the decision is issued, that overpayment no longer arises at all.
For a beneficiary whose amount is reduced the consequence is favourable: they keep the amounts received up to that month, regardless of when the circumstance arose.
For those who were already repaying an overpayment the directive also works backwards: the existing debt is written off and what was paid is returned. If that does not happen, the first step is a written request to the competent regional office invoking the directive; if there is no reply or it is refused, the ordinary remedies remain.
What the directive does not touch also remains. The duty to report a change within eight days still applies, and the directive is an act by which the Ministry steers the Institute’s conduct — it is not an amendment of the Act and it was not published in the Official Gazette. The statutory provisions on damages remain in force for the cases the directive does not cover.
When an obligation to repay can still arise
The obligation does not arise merely because something was paid without basis. The Act prescribes two situations, and both contain an element of the beneficiary’s responsibility:
- where the beneficiary obtained the right on the basis of untrue or inaccurate data which they knew or must have known to be such, or otherwise obtained without basis a right to which they were not entitled, or obtained it to a greater extent than due
- where the right was obtained because the beneficiary did not report a change affecting the cessation or scope of the right, although they knew or must have known of that change
The phrase “knew or must have known” is not ornamental. If the change was known to the Institute from other proceedings, if the beneficiary duly reported it within eight days, or if the overpayment resulted from a calculation error on the authority’s side, the statutory basis is not automatically made out. The law of obligations applies subsidiarily to establishing a right to damages.
If you have received a demand for damages anyway
First establish what the demand rests on. If it concerns a change of amount due to changed circumstances, the case falls under the directive: the debt should be written off and whatever was paid returned, so invoke that directly with the competent regional office and ask for a written reply. If the demand rests on untrue information or an unreported change, then before paying or signing anything, check whether that statutory basis is actually met and whether the claim has become time-barred in the meantime.
If you have received a demand for damages, or your debt has not been written off or the amount you repaid has not been returned, contact our office before signing a settlement or paying.