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The paper analyzes the dynamics of the financial situation and social support coverage of various socio-demographic groups in Russia in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. The study was based on the data of three population surveys conducted in May, October, and December 2020. The spread of coronavirus had a negative impact on the welfare of the population: almost half of the respondents reported worsening of the financial situation of their families in 2020. Over half of the respondents indicated the need for cash assistance, and almost a quarter of the respondents—the need for food packages. More than a quarter of the respondents who tried to apply for social benefits in 2020 faced with some problems. In early December 2020, more than 40% of the respondents had already received the state social support in connection with COVID-19, mainly as cash payments. However, almost 60% of the respondents, including more than a half of the poor had not received any social assistance related to the pandemic. The respondents rather critically assessed the sufficiency of the state social support: almost 60% of the respondents believed that the state had not taken sufficient steps to support the population. The coronavirus epidemic has shown the importance of the social support efficiency improving through digitalization and better targeting.

The aim of this work is to analyze the financial situation and the level of social support received by families with children in Ulyanovsk oblast on the basis of the data from household survey conducted in Ulyanovsk oblast. The study showed that the poverty rate among the surveyed households with children under 18 is significantly higher than the total poverty rate among the households. Many families with children cannot afford buying goods and services they need. In order to maintain their consumption level, a significant proportion of families with children have to take out loans. Analysis of the survey data shows that the coverage of families with children by social benefits is quite high. At the same time, even among the poor households with children, one quarter of households does not receive any social benefits. The surveyed families with children noted difficulties faced by them in obtaining information about social benefits and in collecting necessary documents, long waiting in queues when applying for benefits. The calculations show that provision of regional benefits, including targeted regional benefits, reduces the poverty rate among households with children only slightly. In general, regional benefits are more likely to reduce the extreme poverty of household with children. The analysis presented in the article allows determining possible directions for improving the social support system in Ulyanovsk oblast.

Families with children can receive monthly payments of a substantial amount (from 50% to 100% of the child's subsistence minimum). In January 2023, a unified benefit for children was introduced, extending to all categories of the child population the rules of monthly payments provided to low-income families with children aged 3–7 and 8–17. Based on 5 waves of telephone surveys conducted by RANEPA in the period from October 2021 to November 2022, as well as an analysis of comments from Internet sources, the article analyzes the risk of poverty for families with children from 3 to 17 years of age, accessibility of social support, coverage and effectiveness of monthly payments for children aged 3–17. It is shown that households with children aged 3–17 have 1.5 times higher risk of poverty that rises with an increase in the number of children, as well as in the presence of the unemployed, and living in rural areas. By the end of 2022, more than 20% of households with children of this age were covered by payments in question, among families with 3 and more children — 47%. At the same time, less than half of poor households with children aged 3–17 are covered by these payments. Due to provision of payments, the share of poor households decreased in November 2022 by 1.18 times. Several factors remain, which lead to significant exclusion errors that reduces the impact of the monthly payments on poverty. When switching to the unified benefit for children from 0 to 17 years of age, it is important to take into account the experience of providing support for children aged 3–7 and 8–17 in order to make timely adjustments that will increase the coverage of needy families and raise the impact of the benefit on poverty.

The paper analyzes the changes in the financial situation of families with children during the pandemic of COVID-19 and the introduction of new eligibility criteria for monthly payments to children aged from 3 to 7 years. The study is based on data from telephone monitoring surveys, representative for the Russian Federation, conducted by RANEPA in October and December 2020, February, May, October, and December 2021. The sample sizes range from 1606 to 2015 people. The results of the study show that the coronavirus epidemic has a negative impact on the financial situation of families with children. The share of poor families receiving social benefits to children aged 3 to 7 years has decreased following the introduction of additional eligibility criteria in 2021. Less than half of poor families with children of this age receive these payments. The benefit coverage decreased significantly among the families with unemployed people — by 2 times. The share of families with self-employed workers, receiving such benefits, has decreased by 2.3 times. As a result of the benefit increase, the share of families with children aged 3-7 years lifted out of poverty has grown by more than two times, but more than 60% of recipients remain monetary poor. This indicates that improvement of eligibility criteria and procedure for determining the level of social benefits are very important.