Total number of people claiming financial assistance falls
The number of people receiving financial assistance has fallen, but the majority of people getting aid were still pensioners, MPs were told today.
Tabling the Department of Financial Assistance annual report 2023-24, Tinée Furbert, the Minister of Youth, Social Development and Seniors, said there had been a 5 per cent decrease in the number of people getting financial help compared with the previous year.
However, while figures in the report showed there had been a fall in three out of four financial assistance categories, there had been a slight increase in the number of pensioners receiving aid.
The report showed that in 2022-23, the average monthly number of pensioners on financial assistance was 1,024 and in 2023-24 stood at 1,031.
Ms Furbert said that for the fiscal year 2023-24 the average number of recipients of financial assistance services was 1,991, a decrease from the average of 2,095 recorded in the previous year.
She gave the categories as 1,031 pensioners and seniors, 737 people with disabilities, 122 people with low earnings, and 101 able-bodied but unemployed people.
The monthly average number of children in the child daycare allowance programme in 2023-24 was 264, compared with 118 in the previous year, which was “attributable to the financial assistance reform measures”.
Actual programme expenditure for grants directly to support financial assistance recipients totalled $49.26 million, Ms Furbert said.
“The highest expenditures are rent, nursing homes, food, and health insurance, HIP and FutureCare,” she added.
The minister said the report also detailed work to monitor spending and reduce the risk of fraud, with “stringent procedures” continually reviewed to ensure that investigative officers follow compliance guidelines — and the Attorney-General’s Chambers is helping to “standardise payment agreements to reduce receivables”.
Ms Furbert added that the ministry aimed to “go a step further”, with the help of the Department of Workforce Development, to get Bermudians into gainful work.
• A 5 per cent decrease in the number of persons receiving financial assistance
• An increase in the number of child daycare recipients because of financial assistance reform measures put in place in October 2023
• A reduction in the number of appeals to the Department of Financial Assistance Review Board
• Enhanced monitoring and control of expenditure
• Improved governance and management of client case files
• Continued activities to advance financial assistance reform
• An increase in the outstanding debt from overpayments because of a rigorous investigation regime, with 39 active cases — 31 of which have been referred to the Attorney-General’s Chambers, and eight under review by investigators
• For the full report, see Related Media
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