About 440,000 people have received a one-off €50 payment to help with higher fuel prices. The Social Assistance Agency (ASP) sent the money on 1 October, according to its website. The total is €21,998,300, paid into bank accounts and to Bulgarian Posts.
This follows our earlier report on the €321.95 heating aid, which families with no income who burn solid fuel will get in one payment.
On 24 September 2026 the cabinet approved a programme called the "Inflation cheque", meant to help the most vulnerable groups cope with rising prices for fuel and basic foods. The ASP says it aims to give a basic level of security to poor people whose food costs are rising because of dearer fuel.
The money is for people and families with incomes below the poverty line, and for everyone who gets social assistance. It also goes to people who get targeted heating aid this season, families with children who have lasting disabilities, and disabled war veterans and war victims who get social support.
Orphans who get family benefits for children are also covered. So are children placed with relatives or in foster families. Children and young people up to the age of 21 who have no parental care and are leaving a residential social service are added too. Anyone who falls into several groups gets the €50 only once.
Social Assistance directorates pay the money, either in cash through a licensed postal operator or into a personal account, as stated in the application form for the benefit in question. The ASP has already said that people do not need to file new applications.
People who applied for heating aid through a solid fuel dealer get the money in a bank account if the ASP system has one from another application. If it does not, the money waits for them at a Bulgarian Posts branch at their current address.
The money is available at post offices until 26 October. People who could not collect it for a valid reason can do so from 16 to 26 November or from 15 to 23 December.