Astana, 27 October. When targeted social assistance (TSA) is assigned, bank loans and microloans, outgoing transactions on bank accounts, deposits and savings contributions will be taken into account alongside family income, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection said in reply to a request from the Kazinform agency.
"These changes are intended to assess the family's material situation not only by official income but also by its spending and available financial resources," the ministry's reply says. Data from state information systems will also be used more widely, and the work of the local commissions that check family circumstances is being digitised. According to the ministry, this will help pay assistance to those who really need it.
The new criteria are part of the rules the government approved by resolution on 19 October; they take effect on 1 January 2027. In preparing them, the ministry said, it studied the experience of Italy, Germany, Canada, Australia and Finland, where not only a family's income but also its regular spending and property are considered, and social aid is linked to employment support.
The chairman of the People's Party of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Shokanov, backed the reform but urged careful work on the criteria of need. In his view, owning a flat or a car does not mean a high income, so people's daily expenses and their credit and tax burden should be taken into account.
What it means: The state will judge a family's need not only by declared income but by what it spends, owes and keeps in the bank. The aid should go to those with no other means, but an open question remains whether a loan will be read as a sign of wealth or of poverty.
Who benefits: The budget, as families with substantial savings or spending will stop receiving aid. Genuinely poor families, if the money saved reaches them. For families with loans and modest incomes the new rules may make aid harder to get; the ministry has not explained how debt will be counted.
Background: Targeted social assistance is a monthly payment to families whose income is below a set threshold. On 1 October 2026 it went to 222,312 people in 41,252 families. From 2027 able-bodied recipients will receive it only if they take part in employment measures and sign a social contract.
We have also reported that half as many TSA recipients are being drawn into employment measures as in 2021.
