CHILD BENEFIT
| LUXEMBOURG |
| ALLOCATION FAMILIALE CHILD BENEFIT |
Child benefit is nowadays regarded as a process of redistribution of national income to the benefit of children in the name of a principle of social solidarity. Consequently, current Luxembourg legislation establishes the personal right of children to child benefit. Every child brought up on a continuous basis in Luxembourg and having his or her legal domicile there is entitled to child benefit from birth up to the age of 18. If the beneficiary engages in full-time studies, entitlement is extended up to the age of 27 provided he or she retains legal domicile in Luxembourg.
When undertaking the reform of the Law of 19 June 1985 on child benefit the legislature, aware of the potential problems with respect to EC law implied by the residence conditions (in 1991 Luxembourg was the subject of infringement proceedings against a Member State brought by the Commission for having imposed residence conditions for the award of the maternity allowance and childbirth grant and the European Court of Justice delivered judgment against it on that count: Case C-111/91 [1993] ECR I-840), took care to state that "persons subject to Luxembourg law shall possess entitlement, in respect of children residing abroad who have the legal status of member of their family, to child benefit in accordance with the relevant provisions of EC regulations or other international instruments signed by Luxembourg in the field of social security".
Child benefit is paid by the National Family Benefits Office to the parents if the child is being brought up in their shared household or, in other cases, to that parent or natural or legal person who has effective custody of the child. The amount ranges at present from LUF 3,292 per month for a single child to LUF 36,260 for a family of five children (the amount paid per child increasing up to the third child) and is also increased twice, i.e. for children aged 6-11 and children aged 12 and over. A special supplementary benefit is paid to children suffering from a physical or mental disability. See also family benefits .
Please note: the European industrial relations glossaries were compiled between 1991 and 2003 and are not updated. For current material see the European industrial relations dictionary.