The Ministry of Social Welfare, Women and Poverty Alleviation is reminding all social welfare recipients to collect their monthly $30 food vouchers within 30 days of issue. Failure to do so will see their food voucher returned to headquarters.
And if not requested for by the district/division offices in the next two months, voucher books will be cancelled and allowances terminated.
The Ministry for Social Welfare, Women and Poverty Alleviation acting permanent secretary, Dr Josefa Koroivueta said recipients who did not collected their vouchers on time, would have their payments ceased from April 2013.
He said monthly allowances for the respective recipients would be put on hold pending full verification and funds released once cases were reviewed.
Dr Koroivueta expressed concern that divisional and district offices have reported that for this year, a total of 1287 voucher books remain uncollected for the period January to March.
“The uncollected food vouchers will mean that while funds are committed, they are not being utilized against the cash flow that the ministry has for this allocation. Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) and government pensioners are required to be re-certified by submitting Pension Renewal Forms on a quarterly basis,” Dr Koroivueta said.
“Similarly, the ministry relies on collection of voucher books every three months as a form of recertification and verification. Uncollected voucher books will be cancelled and funds diverted to assist more needy clients in our pending list.
“While collecting their food vouchers, recipients must provide their identification cards and in case of third party transactions, evidence must be produced that primary recipient is still alive. Otherwise, food voucher will not be issued and allowance also will be put on hold,” Dr Koroivueta added.
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