The Poverty Alleviation Programme (P.A.P) will soon be restructured and renamed as L.I.F.T. SKN (Livelihood Improvement for Family Transformation).
This was disclosed by Honourable Isalean Phillip, Senator and Minister of Social Development & Gender Affairs, during the Prime Minister’s Press Conference on Tuesday, February 13th, 2024.
The Honourable Minister recalled that the Ministry of Social Development & Gender Affairs had assumed full responsibility for the PAP Programme on October 03rd 2022 and had then committed to evaluating the successes and challenges of that programme. Following that evaluation, the decision had been taken to restructure the social assistance benefit to ensure its sustainability and provide better programming and empowerment opportunities to beneficiaries.
In explaining the way forward, the Minister advised that notable improvements to the cash transfer programme would be:
- The provision of more money to households and families, with varying benefit amounts ranging up to $600 per approved family, according to need and vulnerability. Under LIFT, the restriction of $500 per household will be relaxed to provide cash transfer assistance to multiple family units that live in the same household or share the same address.
- A refined systematic process to improve fairness and better target and streamline those most in need. LIFT would prioritize unemployed individuals (with/without children), single parent households with children, persons with disabilities, and seniors who make less than a gross income of $2500 monthly.
- LIFT beneficiaries will be offered empowerment opportunities through coordinated self-development activities and case management support, which help to reduce dependency and improve self-sustainability.
The Honourable Minister announced that applications for LIFT will open for online submissions by April 1st, 2024. For a smoother transition from PAP to LIFT though, in the first instance, current PAP recipients will be
invited to verify their original application information in March, and resubmit for consideration to continue on the LIFT Programme.
In closing, the Honourable Minister encouraged the public to stay tuned within the coming weeks for additional information on the transition from PAP to LIFT and more details on what eligible applicants can expect.
End of Release
