The changes were proposed after problems at social work centres, caused by staff shortages and reorganisation, led to delayed decisions on scholarships and social transfers in general.

According to the Labour Ministry, the red tape in the application procedure will now be cut, so there should be no delays in the processing of applications like last year.

The application process should be simplified as of 1 August.

The ministry is also working on the automation of the process where the law permits.

So far a person applying for scholarship had to first apply for a child benefit and social welfare. If they did not, the social centre had to make fictitious calculations to determine whether the person would be eligible for any of these funds.

If they turned out to be eligible, than the amount they would be eligible for counted as family income, which means the student got lower scholarship or was not entitled to it at all.

In 2018/2019, the fictitious calculations were taken into account in 10% of the cases.

The government therefore proposed scrapping these fictitious calculations to simplify the application procedure and expand the number of students eligible for scholarship.

The changes are to cost EUR 100,000 a month or EUR 1.2 million in 2020.