Gov’t to put no more than $2.2M on assistance grants transfer to SDD

Cabinet has instructed the transfer up to $2 million to the Ministry of Health and Social Development for expenses related to the transfer of assistance grant programmes, among other things.

According to Cabinet’s post-meeting statement from its June 22 session, no more than $2,214,532 is to be transferred to the relevant heads and subheads of the Ministry and the Social Development Department (SDD) for those expenses. 

The statement said these monies are to be spent in accordance with the provisional budget developed by the Ministry of Health and Social Development.

Further, Cabinet instructed that the ministry develop a multi-agency coordination mechanism to ensure the smooth implementation of the transitional arrangements.

The Ministry is also expected to roll out a contingency plan, inclusive of emergency funding arrangements, to strengthen the shock-responsiveness of the territory’s social protection system, in consultation with other relevant ministries.

Cabinet also agreed that the Social Development Department is to conduct an assessment of each beneficiary of the transition grant programme to determine eligibility under the provisions of the Public Assistance Act.

The statement noted that this is for integration into the public assistance programme which will be effective from October 1, 2022.

The government previously announced that House of Assembly members’ assistance grants and the government ministries assistance grants that provide financial assistance to individuals and households in need were to be transferred to the SDD with effect from June 30.

The Cabinet had also decided that the Social Development Department would be authorised to implement a transition grant programme between July 1 and September 30 for recipients of monthly grants that are being transferred from the HOA in the interim.