Social Security suspended income reassessments to avoid cuts in support
The Secretary of State for Social Security also assured in Parliament that when the Government learned of cuts in social support, it gave instructions to “suspend reassessments of resource conditions”, so that “no more citizens will be harmed”.
In a joint hearing at the Budget, Finance and Public Administration Committee and the Labor, Social Security and Inclusion Committee at the request of the PS, the Secretary of State for Social Security, Susana Filipa Lima, admitted that in August “complaints arose” from “several citizens and associations, according to which the granting of the Informal Caregiver Support Allowance was penalizing the household in some social benefits and, in particular, the family allowance”.
In response to the deputies, the Secretary of State for Social Security said that when the executive was confronted with this situation, he gave “guidance to suspend the reassessments of resource conditions so that there are no more citizens harmed than those who have already been”.
The official also indicated that Social Security did not make “prior communication” about this situation, but signaled that it is making “efforts” to adopt a more proactive stance and prevent “people from being negatively surprised when situations like these or similar situations occur”.
According to the survey carried out by the executive, carried out “in August this year”, there were around 1,600 beneficiaries who had their family allowances recalculated”.
“The granting of the family allowance, as well as other social benefits, including the caregiver support allowance itself, is subject to verification of the means-tested condition, which is regulated by a specific diploma, which is Decree-Law no. 70/2010. For this purpose, it is considered, among others, [como] household income, income from work, capital, pensions and other social benefits”, he explained.
But, according to the Secretary of State, “what happens is that, when included in the solidarity subsystem, the subsidy to support informal caregivers is not covered” by the exceptions provided for in the law that exclude support from the universe of income and, therefore, the subsidy “is counted as income”.
Filipa Lima also said that the Government is committed to solving the problem, through legislative change, in the “shortest possible time”.