The number of people on financial assistance fell last year as the impact of the global pandemic weakened, according to the annual report of the Department of Financial Assistance.

The report, which covers the financial year 2022-23, stated that total expenditure in financial payouts fell by about $14 million year-on-year as the number of qualifying people fell in all categories.

The largest category of recipients remained pensioners, with 1,023 receiving a combined $24.87 million over the course of the year.

Those figures were slightly down from 2021-22, when 1,036 pensioners received $24.98 million in support.

Disabled individuals remained the second largest category with 758 people receiving $15.67 million, a reduction of 18 people and about $200,000 year-on-year.

Meanwhile, 162 people fell into the low-earning category, receiving $3.09 million in assistance, compared with 210 people in the category receiving $3.93 million the previous year.

Able-bodied unemployed remained the smallest category of recipients, with 151 receiving $2.99 million in assistance, down from 204 people receiving $3.87 million.

The Child Daycare Allowance also saw a decrease of 12 per cent from $1.33 million to $1.17 million, which was attributed to the launch of the Bright Start programme commissioned by the Ministry of Education.

The monthly average number of children that benefited from the daycare allowance also fell from 132 to 120 year-on-year.

The report also highlighted that the department was looking into 41 cases of fraud or misuse of the system with a total value of $328,000.

“From this total, 26 cases with a value of $290,000 were referred to the Attorney-General’s Chambers for legal restitution while 15 that totalled $38,000 remained under the remit of financial assistance investigative officers for repayment,” the report added.