Welfare department provides over $1M in back-to-school support

Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Kirk Humphrey on Friday rubbished claims circulating on social media that the Welfare Department is not helping citizens in need.

He said that so far this year, the department has spent more than $1 million on back-to-school support.

“There has been a video in circulation and in which the accusation is made that the department has not been responding to the request for assistance from the public. And I wish to state categorically that is not the case,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the ministry’s annual National Well-Being & HIV Commission Man Aware (Free Haircuts) session at the Church of God in Chelsea Road, St Michael.

Humphrey noted that while there is always room for improvement in terms of fast tracking assistance, the department had done exceedingly well.

“And I say so because we … made it very clear that people who are known to Welfare, the clients who are known to Welfare, instead of having to do the interviews to see what the circumstances are, we give them a green light. Persons who would come traditionally every year, they get a green light so they would get Welfare straight off the bat,” the minister said.

Read full story in Friday’s e-Paper.