COVID-19 affected employees share benefit from more than €10 million (verżjoni bl-ingliż biss)

21/05/2020 | Aħbar Riċenti, Stqarrija

The Ministry for the Family, Children’s Rights and Social Solidarity carried on its seventh process of payments for those individuals whose employment was affected due to the Covid-19 situation. The total expenditure reached €10.25 million when adding up the contributions of social security (€1.025 million).

Till now, there has been a total of 10,692 applications, of which nearly all have already been processed (98.9%). The incoming applications have decreased by a third, a reflection of more people securing their respective jobs.

As of today, 7,821 applications have been accepted and paid out, which total to €9.2 million. These details were given at a weekly press conference hosted by Minister Michael Falzon and Permanent Secretary Mark Musu, who said that, from those individuals that were paid today, 5,891 persons have received the benefit allocated to parents, those with medical conditions or disability.

This means that there have been another 6,739 jobs secured, added to 93,114 jobs secured through Malta Enterprise, so that to date we have a total of 100,000 secured employments.

Every beneficiary paid up till now has received an average of €1,310 in financial help, including the social security contributions.

29% of the people receiving the benefits are males, while 71% are females, a reflection of the number of beneficiaries receiving the parent benefit.

As of the 1st of March until today, the Department for Social Security has received more than 64,122 emails, and 63,611 of these emails have been concluded.

17,330 telephone call has been received on the helpline 25903030, which is helping the elderly when it comes to buying necessities, including medicine.

So far, Aġenzija Appoġġ has encountered 3,100 telephone calls on the helpline 1772, on which they assist people who are feeling lonely.

Minister Michael Falzon said that Malta is being seen as a role model for other countries during this pandemic. Minister Falzon mentioned that the government kept on distributing every social assistance during these tough times, and also managed to keep on distributing more assistance to the most vulnerable people. Minister Falzon concluded that it is of optimal importance to maintain a balance between health and economic measures, as we must sustain a strong economy to secure future social benefits.