To midsummer, the Ministry of Social Policy promises to prepare an order to monetize social payments

Today, in Ukraine, a quarter of the population enjoys privileges, and not only poor but wealthy people receive social payments. Therefore, there is an urgent need to change the law so that during an appointment of social assistance a property status of recipients will be taken into account. Also, in June and July 2017, rosters of social assistance should be completed, and a formal procedure for monetization should be introduced. Experts and representatives of legislative and executive power made this conclusion during the Smart Talk “Benefits, payments, subsidies". The event was held on March, 13 at 10:00 in the premises of "Ukrinform".

In the discussion participated:

  • Chief of Social Programs of ISER Marianna Onufryk;
  • People’s Deputy of Ukraine, member of the Parliamentary Committee on Social Policy, Employment and Pension Provision Nataliia Veselova;
  • Director of the Department of Social assistance of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine Vitaliy Muzychenko;
  • Executive Director of the Consortium "Astek" Lilia Borodulina;
  • blogger and political analyst Mykola Davydiuk.

According to the experts, today, a quarter of Ukraine’s population enjoys the benefits, but not all need them.

“Now, in our country, more than 10 million people enjoy the benefits. At the same time, the Ministry of Social Policy accounts for up to 18 million 710 thousand beneficiaries, as some Ukrainians getting not one but several benefits. Also, according to January 2017, 40.7 % of households received subsidies from the state, and still, there are millions of people who receive disability payments, internally displaced persons and families with children. Together, on all beneficiaries, the Government allocates hundreds of billions of hryvnia”, - says the Chief of Social Programs of ISER Marianna Onufryk.

The expert of ISER explains that currently, it is impossible to accurately calculate how much the state spends on benefits, social payments and subsidies since there is no single register of beneficiaries. One person may be inscribed simultaneously in several such bases, and all this information is not being verified not only in the social sphere but also between different agencies in general.

As a result, all branches of government - both MPs and ministries - hold the opinion that it is necessary to conduct monetization, verification and assessment of human welfare, but there is no a common position on how to achieve this correctly and quickly.

According to the Director of the Department of the Social assistance of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine Vitaliy Muzychenko, the verification, i.e., checking social benefits recipients, is one of the key management decisions to reform the social sphere.

“The question of verification should be considered from two perspectives. First is the identification of scammers and those who have no right to benefits, under the current criteria. Other is that the targeting should be enhanced and the criteria to enter the system should be changed after the results of verification”, - Vitaliy Muzychenko said.

He said that, as of today, 80 % of recipients of benefits already are being tested regarding income.

The MP Nataliia Veselova emphasises that verification of benefits recipients should be carried out not by the Ministry of Social Policy but an independent body.

“This is shown by the results of the verification department when the part of lists was sent to social inspectors for a check. They found one percent of the violations and the rest of the list has been submitted to an audit service for review - a former Audit Office - and 25% of violations were found there. Already now, we can see the difference between of verification that is being conducted by social inspectors working at the Ministry of Social Policy and an independent body”, - says the MP.

Moreover, the situation with benefits could change for the better, if monetization will be implemented in Ukraine, i.e. people, for example, would pay for transportation or utilities in full, and would receive compensation at hand. Thus, politicians have not yet agreed on how people should spend the money: only by appointment or at their discretion?

According to Vitaliy Muzychenko, a law that will allow monetizing benefits partially and social payments was adopted, and the procedure for monetization and amount of payments should be developed already until July 1.

"We are going to make a procedure for monetization and determination of amounts of monetized payments instead of benefits during the second quarter, to have the appropriate order by July 1, 2017", - said Vitaliy Muzychenko.

Full video of the event:


Reference:

Smart talk
is a joint project of the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER, NGO) and UKRINFORM promoted by the newspaper "Day". This is a series of meetings devoted to the communication of the main aspects of social reforms in Ukraine, according to the results of a comprehensive study "The Policy of Social Pragmatism".

“The Policy of Social Pragmatism” offers to the state and society a radically new concept of social relations, based on practical ensure a decent and happy life of a human. A model of an effective social protection, healthcare is laid in this policy, and conditions of forming the person’s responsible attitude to its life and the use of public goods, including through the development of education and culture, are described too.

NGO “Institute for Social and Economic Research” (ISER, NGO) is a non-governmental think tank that unites leading experts of different areas, who have an experience in state policy analysis and efficient solutions development. The Mission of ISER is to be an intellectual bridge of trust between government, business, and community to reach synergy and best results. The main activity of the Institute is the analysis and improvement of the social policy in all spheres of socio-economic development. More about the Institute read here - http://iser.org.ua/en.