The Ministry of Social Welfare, Women and Poverty Alleviation is reminding all its social welfare recipients that if they fail to collect their monthly $30 Food Vouchers within 30 days of issue, their food voucher will be cancelled and voucher books returned to the social welfare headquarters.
Ministry permanent secretary Mr Govind Sami has reiterated that if people do not collect their vouchers on time, their payments will cease.
Mr Sami said that monthly allowances for the respective recipients will be put on hold pending full verification and funds will only be released once the clients are re-certified.
He has expressed concern following a report from district offices that 1428 voucher books remain uncollected.
“These books were released at the beginning of July. Non-collection of vouchers mean that while funds are committed, they are not being utilised against the Cash Flow that the Ministry has for this allocation. FNPF and Government pensioners are required to be re-certified by submitting Pension Renewal Forms on a quarterly basis,” Mr Sami said.
“Similarly, the ministry now relies on collection of Voucher Books every 3 months as a form of recertification”. Uncollected Voucher Books will be cancelled and funds diverted to assist more needy clients in our pending list”.
The Ministry, he said is aware of some cases where a recipient has passed away and the relatives continue to collect the allowances and do not inform the social welfare office to cease payments.
“By requiring clients to personally collect voucher books, the Ministry is able re-certify clients and ensure that payments are in respect of genuine recipients only. Third Party Collection and redemption is only approved if the Social Welfare Officer is satisfied that the recipient is immobile and in such cases, a Third Party Identification card is issued. The recipients are once again reminded to collect their voucher books on time to avoid cancellation of vouchers and allowances being put on hold or terminated,” he said.
Mr Sami reiterated that for all clients who are issued monthly cash top ups, the Ministry will be embarking on a recertification programme from the 15th of August, 2012 and those that do not re-certify, their allowances will not be paid in October.
“Recipients will be expected to bring their ID Cards and Bank Cards for recertification at the nearest Social Welfare Office where Renewal Forms will have to be filled. For maritime provinces, arrangements are being made with the divisional commissioners and provincial administrators to use the Turaga-ni-Koro’s to assist in the process,” he added.
All the social welfare recipients are once again reminded to present proper identification when collecting their vouchers.
“While collecting the food vouchers, recipients must provide their Identification Cards and in the case of 3rd party transactions, evidence must be produced that the primary recipient is still alive. Otherwise, food voucher will not be issued and allowance also will be put on hold,” Mr Sami emphasised.
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