Final results showed 52.6% of voters rejecting a plan by the cantonal parliament to reduce payments by between 8% and 30%, according to the Bern state chancelleryExternal link.
A counter-proposal by left-wing groups also failed to win a majority of votes on Sunday.
The result is seen as an upset and could block attempts notably by right-wing and centre-right parties in other regions to cut welfare benefits. The authorities expected to save between CHF8 and CHF19 million ($8-$19 million) annually.
Opponents welcomed the result, saying it showed the “spirit of solidarity” among the population. They argued that long-term unemployed and single parents would be most affected by the planned cuts.
The government member in charge of health and public welfare, Pierre Alain Schnegg, said he would push ahead with reform plans to boost the integration of beneficiaries into the labour market.
Supporters of the cuts said the current system is unfair to low-income earners as they have less money available than people living on welfare.
The proposal would have set the level of the payments below a standard agreed by the country’s 26 cantons, most municipalities as well as private organisation to ensure a modest lifestyle.
Canton Bern and its municipalities spent about CHF272 million on welfare in 2017. There were just over 42,700 residents who received financial support from the authorities in a region with an above-average proportion of beneficiaries.
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Fight over benefits and living on little money
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Life has not been kind to Maria C.* (real name withheld). Growing up in a farmer’s village outside Zurich, she is a child of an immigrant mother who barely spoke the local language. When her Swiss father died, the three-year old was sent away to a home until she was 11 and considered unfit for…
Almost 300,000 Swiss residents drew welfare in 2016
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Last year just over three per cent of all Swiss residents, or 273,273 people, received social benefits, the Federal Statistical Office reports.
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Social benefit payouts in Switzerland are high, but the wealthy nation spends less of its GDP on welfare than other countries do.
Drop in number of rejected asylum seekers on welfare
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Just over 8,000 rejected asylum seekers received basic welfare benefits in Switzerland last year worth a total of CHF60 million ($60 million).
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Almost 600,000 people live in poverty in Switzerland. Without social transfers this number would be more than twice as high.
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