Clients of the Social Empowerment Agency have been told that their payments or services will not be stopped when their cases are under review.
Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Adrian Forde gave the assurance during a press conference on Friday to announce a transition from cheque payments to electronic transfers for beneficiaries.
Forde said: “We have started the process already that there will no longer be a stop process when persons are being reviewed for our services. The reviews will run parallel with the monies and the assistance so that persons who are getting reviewed will not drop off the system as has happened in the past.”
Reviews are conducted periodically to assess clients’ status, as the objective of the ministry is to move people from dependency or vulnerability towards independence, he said.
“Our programmes and projects are to move persons from a level of dependency and vulnerability to a level of independence. That is the whole idea and ethos of this ministry so that we will allow Barbadians to be able to earn their own living and be especially empowered to look after themselves, and that is the transitional aspect of our ministry.”
The social care minister acknowledged that in the past some people fell off the system during the review process but said officials are working to ensure this does not happen again.
“We are saying that it’s a thing of the distant past now and while persons are being reviewed, we will run the services parallel to that review, and they will no longer be dropped off the system. We have done our due diligence and our work in terms of the computer system and we are ready to run that parallel system so there will no longer be a drop off with the system in terms of our services, and that is something that I have been given the assurance by the team of experts.”
Forde also reiterated his warning to those who would seek to take advantage of vulnerable people in society.
“I am equally pleading to those who have nefarious intent, especially when it comes to our vulnerable sector; take your evil hands off our children. Equally, if you have ill intent for the elderly, again, I want to say, the Prime Minister would say it easily: ‘Not bout here’.”
He continued: “When it comes to those in the shadows, the disabled, we’re gonna still have the same conversation.”
The minister also called on Barbadians to be mindful of the way they treat vulnerable people, stating that the government cannot do it alone.
(LG)
