Granting and disbursement of unemployment benefit

Published: 22.01.2021.

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Unemployment benefit is paid to the person which has lost a job and has received a status of an unemployed person. Benefit may be received not longer than for 8 months. The amount of the benefit depends on the length of insurance period of the person and the wages subject to contributions.

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Important to know!
In order to be granted unemployment benefits, you must first apply for unemployment status.
The status of unemployed is obtained by submitting an application addressed to the State Employment Agency for its granting. After that, the State Social Insurance Agency must submit an application for unemployment benefits.
In order not to delay the granting and payment of the benefit, it is preferable to submit both applications in the appropriate order on the same day.

In order to claim the benefit, a specific form of application addressed to the SAA must be completed.
May submit a submission:
• on the www.latvija.gov.lv portal;
• on-site (if requested for service, a personal identification document (passport or ID card) must be produced);
• electronically (the application must be signed with a secure electronic signature containing the time stamp);
• by post.
An application may be submitted in person to any VSAA customer service centre, State Employment Agency or the National and Local Government Unified Customer Service Centers

The submission shall indicate the preferred method of receiving the decision.

When applying for a benefit, the original documents certifying the length of insurance (employment) shall be presented by 31 December 1995 and the periods equated thereto, if such information is not already available to the SAA.
Receipt of services

If the official electronic address account (hereinafter the e-address) is activated, the decision will be sent by the SSIA to the e-address regardless of how the application is submitted.

If the e-address is not enabled and:

completed for e-submission on portal Latvija.gov.lv, the decision will be available for viewing on portal Latvija.gov.lv in the “SSIA information and services” e-service under the “logged-in services” section;
the application has been submitted to the SSIA in person, electronically (signed with a secure electronic signature) or sent by post - the decision may be received according to the type of receipt of the decision indicated in the application: on the portal, Latvija.gov.lv, face-to-face, or by post

At the choice of the recipient, the SSIA shall transfer the service to the account of the Latvian credit institution or postal payment system.

Regulations

The right to receive an unemployment benefit is granted to an unemployed person who:

has been granted unemployed status by the State Employment Agency;
has a total insurance record of at least one year;
has made, or was required to make, mandatory social insurance contributions for unemployment in the Republic of Latvia for at least 12 months within the last 16 months prior to obtaining unemployed status.

For your attention!

If the unemployment benefit is granted, it may only be received if the beneficiary does not earn any income during the period of receipt, including royalties.

For more information on obtaining unemployed status, see the State Employment Agency website: https://www.nva.gov.lv/en/acquiring-status-unemployed-person.

Regardless of the contributions made, the right to the benefit is also granted to an unemployed person who:

has regained working capacity following a period of disability; or
has cared for a child with a disability up to the age of 18.

In such cases, the SSIA shall grant the benefit if the applicant registers with the State Employment Agency and obtains unemployed status within one month after regaining working capacity or after the child with a disability reaches the age of 18.

The translation has been prepared using a machine translation tool.

When determining the amount of the unemployment benefit, the applicant’s calculated average insurance contribution wage and total insurance record are taken into account.

The average daily insurance contribution wage is calculated for a 12-month period ending two months prior to the month in which the status of an unemployed person was obtained.

10.

11.

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The month in which the status of an unemployed person was obtained

The average daily insurance contribution wage is calculated using the following formula:

Vd – average daily insurance contribution wage;

A1, A2 … A10 – sum of insurance contribution wages for the included months;

X1 – number of months included in the calculation, excluding the two months with the highest and lowest insurance contribution wages;

X2 – number of months during which the person was actually insured against unemployment;

Dd – number of calendar days.

The calculation shall exclude the two months in which the lowest and the highest insurance contribution wage was recorded.

If, during the 12-month period used to calculate the average insurance contribution wage, the person was:

on parental leave;
on unpaid leave granted in connection with the need to care for a child (applicable to adoptive parents, guardians, foster parents and other persons who actually care for and raise the child); or
on maternity leave,

and mandatory social insurance contributions were not required to be made by the employer during that period, the average insurance contribution wage shall be calculated on the basis of the employment income earned prior to the leave periods granted in connection with pregnancy and child care. This means that, in such cases, the average insurance contribution wage shall be calculated for a 12-calendar-month period by moving back to the last insurance contribution wage registered by the employer.

The average insurance contribution wage shall be calculated in the same manner in cases where, throughout the entire 12-month period, the person was a non-working recipient of maternity benefit or parental benefit, i.e. continued to receive the granted maternity or parental benefit after the termination of employment relationships.

If, during any part of the 12-month period for which the average insurance contribution wage is to be calculated, parental leave, unpaid leave granted due to the need to care for a child, or maternity leave has been granted, or if the person received a downtime allowance, downtime support allowance, downtime support, sickness assistance benefit, or a continuation of the parental benefit, the respective days shall be excluded from the total number of calendar days.

The amount of the unemployment benefit is determined based on the total length of insurance contributions (insurance record or tenure).

Length of Insurance Record	Benefit Amount from Average Contribution Wage
from 1 to 9 years (inclusive)	50%
from 10 to 19 years (inclusive)	55%
from 20 to 29 years (inclusive)	60%
30 years and more	65%

If, prior to acquiring the status of unemployed person, the individual:

cared for a child under the age of one and a half and received the childcare benefit;
regained capacity for work after a period of disability;
cared for a child with a disability up to the age of 18,

then the granted unemployment benefit shall be determined as 60% of the double amount of the state social security benefit.

If the benefit is granted:

from 01.01.2025 to 31.12.2025 — 60% of 332 euro;
from 01.01.2026 — 60% of 374 euro.

The amount of the state social security benefit is reviewed annually.

Translation prepared with a machine translation tool.

The unemployment benefit shall be paid for a period of no longer than eight months in the following amounts:

for the first two months – in the amount granted;
in the third and fourth months – 75% of the granted benefit amount;
in the fifth and sixth months – 50% of the granted benefit amount;
in the seventh and eighth months – 45% of the granted benefit amount.

If employment relationships are terminated at the initiative of the employer or by mutual agreement, the benefit shall be granted from the day on which the SSIA receives the application for the granting of the unemployment benefit. Payment of the unemployment benefit shall commence in the following month.

If employment relationships are terminated at the employee’s own initiative or due to misconduct, the unemployment benefit shall be granted from the date of submission of the application, but not earlier than two months after acquiring the status of an unemployed person. This means that the unemployment benefit will be granted two months later, and the first unemployment benefit payment may be received only in the third month.

The unemployment benefit shall be paid for the unemployment period of the previous month.

The amount of the payable benefit depends on the number of days in the month for which the benefit is paid.

The benefit shall be transferred to the beneficiary’s account with a credit institution of the Republic of Latvia or to an account in the postal settlement system.

If the benefit is granted in accordance with an international social security agreement concluded by Latvia or under the conditions of EU Regulations, and the beneficiary’s place of residence is in an EU/EEA Member State or a contracting state, the benefit may be transferred to an account with the relevant foreign credit institution.

The payment of the unemployment benefit shall be suspended:

for the period during which sickness benefit or maternity benefit is received;
while the beneficiary is receiving a parental benefit (the payment of the parental benefit shall be suspended during receipt of the unemployment benefit);
while the beneficiary is receiving compensation for loss of work capacity or compensation for loss of a provider (payment of such compensation shall be suspended during receipt of the unemployment benefit);
during the period in which a service pension recipient receives the unemployment benefit (payment of the service pension shall be suspended accordingly).