Deputy Minister of Social Welfare Marilena Evangelou announced on Tuesday the creation of 30 new or the expansion of existing nurseries, which will also operate in the afternoon hours.
She was speaking at the presentation of the Deputy Ministry’s actions during the first year of President Nikos Christodoulides’ administration and the actions and policies to be launched for 2024.
She also referred to the targets for reducing the time for processing applications for the Minimum Guaranteed Income to 60 days, the response to over 366,000 calls from the 1450 helpline call centre and the expansion of the Neighbourhood Social Worker on a nationwide basis.
According to Evangelou, the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare is implementing an ambitious social policy programme, with a budget for 2024 of pound 651 million, including European programmes, with an emphasis on the well-being of families and children, the effective support of vulnerable groups, the equal participation of people with disabilities in society, inc
lusion, active and healthy ageing and the quick and effective service of citizens and those who need the assistance of the State.
Starting from the upgrading and modernisation of the Minimum Guaranteed Income (MGI), Evangelou highlighted the reduction of the average applications processing time to 90 days and the target set for 2024 to further reduce the processing time to 60 days, the strengthening of the Audit Team to terminate benefits where abuse of the system is detected, and the activation and integration of beneficiaries with the aim of disengaging them from benefits and activating them in society.
She also referred to the digitization and simplification of procedures and services, noting the operation of the online application for the MGI from June 2023, the operation of the 1450 hotline for citizens from May 2023, with the call centre having responded to over 366,000 calls, with an average waiting time of 30 seconds and an average service time of 3 minutes, of which 195,000 calls were to the Social
Welfare Services of the Deputy Ministry.
An important development, according to Evangelou, is the promotion within 2024 of an interactive application, which will be addressed to the beneficiaries of social benefits with a live chat feature, as well as an application, after the mapping of structures, which the Deputy Ministry has proceeded with, which will be addressed to citizens and inform them about all care structures available in Cyprus.
The Deputy Minister described the Neighbourhood Social Worker as an “extremely important social service”, which, she said, after its successful pilot implementation in April 2023 in 8 municipalities and communities, will be extended nationwide within the coming days.
Regarding the policies for reconciling work and family life, Evangelou highlighted the creation of 30 new or expansion of existing nurseries under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, which will also operate in the afternoon hours, adding that the first two public funding agreements have already been signed w
ith the Municipalities of Yeroskipou and Deryneia.
She also highlighted the importance of the extension in June 2023 of the beneficiaries of the co-funded Tuition and Feeding Subsidy Scheme for Children up to 4 years old with up to 80% subsidy of tuition fees of private and community kindergartens and nurseries at a cost of pound 16 million. She also referred to a new Tuition and Feeding Subsidy Scheme for Children up to 4 years and 5 months of age with the same criteria, which will be implemented in September 2024, at a total cost of pound 3 million.
Evangelou furhter referred to the decision to increase the Child Benefit by 5%, which will affect around 60,000 families, at a total cost of pound 3.7 million, the decision to meet the persistent request for the inclusion of students of large families in the Child Benefit by paying 50% of the benefit at a total cost of pound 3.3 million, as well as the decision to amend the legislation so that cohabitation is not taken into account for the purposes of the Sing
le Parent Allowance.
Referring to the ongoing consultation with the Cyprus Confederation of Organisations of the Disabled (CCOD), Evangelou expressed optimism “for the creation of a new, modern legislation that will govern all issues concerning people with disabilities”, noting that both the update of the National Strategy and Action Plan for Disability and the first National Strategy for Autism are in their final stage.
She also described as particularly important the creation of two new family-type homes for adults with disabilities and four new individual programmes for persons with autism, intellectual disabilities and other severe disabilities, as well as the approval of the construction of five additional homes for adults with disabilities.
The Deputy Minister noted that an actuarial study is planned within 2024 to rationalize the benefit policy as a whole so that it better meets current needs and challenges, with the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare being in the process of mapping the existing poli
cy and working with the Ministry of Finance, after which a guide to citizens’ social rights will be issued and updated after the rationalization of the benefit policy.
Asked whether there were provisions for the creation of State-run shelters for unaccompanied refugee minors, Evangelou said that the policy of the Deputy Ministry focuses on strengthening the relocation policy for unaccompanied minors, an intention which, as she said, has also been conveyed to the competent European Commissioner, who has launched a pilot programme for the relocation of a small number of children, adding that she received the same assurances from the Vice-President of the European Commission Margaritis Schinas at an inter-ministerial meeting during his recent visit to Cyprus.
She added that fostering procedures for unaccompanied minors have also become much faster, with 190 children currently in foster care programmes and another 290 in semi-independent living with foster carers, hosted mainly by fellow nationals who already h
ave residency status in Cyprus, with the aim of creating a manageable situation.
Asked about the latest developments regarding the “red button” programme, the Deputy Minister said that it is an important and sensitive part of the Government’s National Strategy for the Third Age, which, as she noted, we should be absolutely sure that it will work even in the most remote area as it will be relied upon by elderly people in every part of Cyprus when they are in need.
She added that meetings of the red button sub-committee of the Third Age body are currently underway, with the participation of the chairman of the Third Age Observatory, academics and officials of the Deputy Ministry, who have studied good practices from Israel, Germany, the United Kingdom and other countries, from which some not so good practices have also emerged, adding that the process is currently being finalised and announcements will be made soon.
Asked about any incidents of abuse of the Minimum Guaranteed Income scheme, Evangelou said th
at following the strengthening of the audit team last July, in addition to the automated monthly audits, 543 specialised targeted audits in high-risk cases were carried out, which resulted in 364 terminations, following a full investigation and justification for the findings, with annual savings amounting to approximately pound 3.1 million.
Source: Cyprus News Agency