Nearly one thousand parents were paid over half a million euro in Covid temporary benefits
By the end of this week nearly one thousand parents of children under the age of 16 and children with severe disabilities would have been paid the Covid temporary benefit due to school closures.
By Saturday 992 families out of 1,267 applicants with concluded applications would have been paid. This means that 78% of applicants and whose application was processed were deemed eligible. A total of 1,420 applications were received, of which 90% have been processed.
Expenditure will have reached €523,119 with the payments made by the end of this week. When taking into account the social security contributions they will also be paid, expenditure will thus exceed €581,000.
As per the scheme launched by the Ministry for Social Justice and Solidarity, the Family and Children’s Rights, the benefit shall be paid up until Friday 9th April. Therefore, due to the re-opening of schools, no further applications are being accepted. However, those with pending applications which are found to be eligible, shall be paid next week in arrears.
The number of applicants in 2021 was substantially lower than last year. In fact, there were 6,331 applicants for this particular benefit in 2020 and this year 1,420 or 22% were received. This shows that the private sector is adapting to the situation caused by the pandemic, also thanks to the governmental assistance schemes so that where possible, persons can work from home. This was a double benefit both for working parents who continued working as well as for their employers because work did not stop.
The Minister for Social Justice and Solidarity, the Family and Children’s Rights Dr Michael Falzon stated that this government is always there to help those people who found themselves in situations beyond their control. Minister Falzon insisted that this government always did it utmost so that nobody would fall behind and that those persons in receipt of Tapering of Benefits and In-Work Benefit would continue to receive this assistance along with the benefit for parents.