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Deputy Minister of Social Welfare Ms Marilena Evangelou presented today, during a press conference, the activities of the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare during the first year of Nicos Christodoulides' government and the ongoing actions and policies for 2024.
The Deputy Minister referred to the policies and actions achieved with a focus on people, in the context of the combined policy of benefits and services implemented by the Ministry with emphasis on the well-being of families and children, the effective support of vulnerable groups, the equal participation of people with disabilities in society, inclusion, active and healthy ageing and the quick and effective service of citizens and those who need the assistance of the State.
Specifically, Ms Evangelou referred to the upgrading and modernization of the Minimum Guaranteed Income (MGA), addressing the delays in the examination of applications, the reduction of the average time for the examination of EEO applications to 90 days and the target set for 2024 to further reduce the examination time to 60 days, the strengthening of the Control Team and the activation and integration of beneficiaries in order to disengage them from benefits and activate them in society as a whole.
He also referred to the digitalisation and simplification of procedures and services, pointing out the operation of the online application for the EEO, the operation of the telephone service for citizens through the four-digit number 1450 and the promotion within 2024 of an interactive application, which will be addressed to the beneficiaries of social benefits with a live chat facility, as well as an application, following the mapping of structures, which the Ministry of State proceeded with, which will address citizens and inform about all care structures in Cyprus. At the same time, the Deputy Ministry is launching the publication of a Citizen's Guide to Social Rights within 2024.
The Deputy Minister described the Neighbourhood Social Worker, which after its successful pilot implementation in April 2023, will be extended on a nationwide basis within days.
"The Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare is actively involved in strengthening policies to reconcile work and family life, while supporting both the family and children," Ms Evangellou said, noting the creation of 30 new or expansion of existing crèches under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, which will also operate in the evening hours. Already, he said, the first two public funding agreements have been signed with the Municipalities of Geroskipou and Deryneia.
He noted the importance of extending the beneficiaries of the co-funded Tuition and Feeding Subsidy Plan for Children up to four years old in June 2023 and referred to the development of a new Tuition and Feeding Subsidy Plan for Children up to four years and five months old, which will be implemented in September.
He referred in particular to the decision to increase the Child Benefit by 5%, which will benefit some 60,000 families, as well as to the satisfaction of the persistent request of the Polychildren's Organization for the inclusion of students of large families in the Child Benefit with the payment of 50% of the benefit.
Meeting one of the main requests of single-parent families, the Deputy Minister highlighted the decision to amend the legislation so that cohabitation is not taken into account for the purposes of the Single Parent Allowance.
Ms. Evangelou listed a number of measures decided for the financial support of families, including single-parent, three- and many-parent families, low pensioners, persons with disabilities, beneficiaries of the EHIC, parents, spouses and widows of the missing and fallen of 1974, and referred to the revision and improvement of the Resettlement Plan in the occupied territories, which will be promoted within the next few days.
In the context of the modernisation of child-centred legislation, the Deputy Minister stressed that three laws are in the final stage of drafting and public consultation, with the process of completion by autumn, governing fostering, adoption and the operation of nurseries and kindergartens.
Referring to the ongoing consultation with the Cyprus Confederation of Organisations of Disabled People (CYSOA), Ms Evangelou expressed optimism "for the creation of a new, modern legislation that will govern all issues concerning persons with disabilities". She also noted that both the update of the National Strategy and Action Plan for Disability and the first National Strategy for Autism are in their final stages.
Of particular importance, she described the creation of two new family-type homes for adults with disabilities and four new individual programmes for people with autism, intellectual disabilities and other severe disabilities, as well as the approval of the construction of five additional homes for adults with disabilities.
Emphasizing that "as a State we have to face the challenges, but also to provide opportunities for the elderly in a horizontal and holistic way by assuming all obligations and providing all facilities and prospects for active ageing", Ms Evangellou referred to the decision of the Christodoulides Government to draw up a National Strategy and Action Plan for the Third Age with the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare as the coordinating body.
As she stressed "until the preparation of the Strategy, the policies and actions that are mature will be implemented", giving as an example the Subsidy Scheme for Accommodation in Homes for the Elderly, which is being developed by the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare: "Having developed some of the most basic policies and actions of the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare, it reflects the human-centered stigma of the Christodoulides Government at a particular time with multiple and complex challenges following the recurrent crises, economic, pandemic and wars in the wider region and in Europe with serious socio-economic consequences, aiming to address them and the well-being of man and by extension of the whole, without exclusion and without discrimination."
(MΘ/EP/MΣ)
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