People who have access to the food voucher card to purchase essential food items have encountered an additional difficulty since the beginning of this year: the end of VAT reductions. This means that with the same amount of money, they can now buy fewer products. The Department of Family points out that the device has fallen short and has had to allocate 7 million euros to help vulnerable residents of Madrid who could not access the system because they do not have dependents.
Since the Ministry of Social Rights introduced these voucher cards in 2021, food prices have increased by 30 percent. The Minister of Family and Social Affairs of the Community of Madrid, Ana Dávila, expressed her concern for the situation of many vulnerable families in the country. In a letter addressed to the Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, and the Minister of Social Rights, Pablo Bustinduy, she requested the elimination of VAT on basic food purchases made with these cards.
The voucher cards allow vulnerable families to buy food in 3,626 establishments distributed across various municipalities in Spain. The assigned amount varied from 130 euros per month for two people to 220 euros for families with five or more members. In the Community of Madrid, these cards reached 6,000 families last year, benefiting around 21,000 people.
The minister criticizes that the card system has left thousands of people without access to basic products, forcing autonomous communities to cover these deficiencies. Furthermore, she denounces that since Pedro Sánchez has been in power, the severe poverty rate has nearly doubled its record in Spain, reaching the worst level in 20 years, according to data from the INE.
The voucher card was created to help families in extreme vulnerability with dependents. Implemented by the central government in 2024 with the European Social Fund Plus, it aimed to provide an alternative to traditional queues at food banks. Seven supermarket chains participate in the program, and it is expected that more effective measures will be taken to address material poverty in the country.
