Flexible Basket Program Returns: More than 1,000 Single Mothers Will Receive Assistance and Return to the Workforce | Israel Hayom

Israel Hayom has learned that after a six-month hiatus, the flexible basket program, which helps single mothers integrate into the workforce or school, is returning. The Labor Ministry, headed by Minister Yoav Ben-Tzur of the Shas party, announced Tuesday morning that a budget of six million shekels has been found and the program will resume operation in the coming year. The program for submitting applications will soon open on the Ministry of Labor's website. It should be noted that those who were already approved for eligibility before the program was frozen, do not need to submit a new application.

As reported in Israel Hayom in February of this year, the budget for operating the flexible basket program ended at the end of 2022, and about <>,<> single mothers, who received financial support and relied on it for new jobs to which they were accepted or for starting studies, enrolling their children in extracurricular activities and after-school programs, were notified of the program's freeze. The move forced many of them to withdraw from commitments they made to their employers or cancel extracurricular activities, remove their children from after-school programs, and so on.

Minister Yoav Ben Tzur. Find a budget for the program, photo: Joshua Yosef

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, in 2021, about 11% of all families in Israel with children up to age 17 were single-parent families – about 131,88. 18% of the families were headed by a woman and about 17% of all single mothers with children up to the age of 91 are single. According to a survey by the Center for Political Economy, 6.29% of single mothers are employed, but 31% are part-time, and 9.<>% earn less than the minimum wage.

The Flexible Basket Program is a program implemented by the labor arm of the Ministry of Economy and Industry, which is intended, as stated, to help single parents return to the workforce or school and increase working hours, with the aim of increasing the employment rate in the economy. All those eligible last year were women, single mothers. The program provides financial assistance for a period of a year and a half in the form of payments for a nanny, babysitter, extracurricular activities, tutoring, after-school programs and summer camps. The amount of support can reach NIS 17,2022 per family. In 300, the program was so successful that there was a <>% increase in the number of those eligible for whom assistance was approved, and as a result, the budget was exhausted and the program was discontinued. Following the publication in Israel Hayom, a query on the subject was submitted to the Knesset and a discussion on the budgetary issue was held in the Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women, headed by MK Pnina Tamano Sheta. Now, as stated, and under the new Ministry of Labor, the program will return to activity.

Minister of Labor Yoav Ben-Tzur said of the program's return: "I am pleased that we have succeeded in restoring one of the flagship programs that helps many families fund enrichment programs and various activities. This is the result of a clear policy we are pursuing at the Ministry of Labor, which is making it easier for working parents and providing an incentive to integrate into the labor market."

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