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THE RE-ENGINEERING OF SOCIAL SECURITY

Ladies and gentlemen. I would like to take this opportunity to address a number of achievements and challenges that we are facing in our social security programme. This is a major poverty alleviation programme, with a budget of R] 6-billion in the current financial year and which reaches directly nearly 9,9-million people in poor households. Indirectly this programme approximately 7 million individuals in poor households, many in rural areas

As you know the next child support grant came into operation on April I this year. I am pleased to announce that the first recipient of the new grant received her payment on l July.

In the Free State our efforts to improve service delivery and efficiency, in line with Batho Pele, has led to the project that started as a pilot, being nominated as a model of innovation by the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management

A new branch has been established: Strategic Policy Planning and Social Security. The introduction of our new Deputy Director-General, Ms Ntjantja Ned, will have signalled to you that the Department of Welfare is building the social security function to a fully-fledged unit in its own right. We have finalised other appointments, including that of a Chief Director, in this branch, and will be finalising other senior appointments.

This is in line with the decision which was taken by the national Cabinet, the Welfare MINMEC and other structures that social security should become a nationally organised function. The reasons which informed that decision are still valid and indeed have become even more obvious to any close observer and critic We need to ensure the improve of delivery through uniform systems, ensure implementation of norms and standards and increase our capacity to monitor service delivery.

Rl 00-million re-engineering fund

Earlier this year central government made available an amount of R200-million as a conditional grant, split over this and the next financial year. This money is to be used for the re-engineering of social security, that is the improvement of financial and administrative systems across the country. Each province can now engage the services of financial managers at the level of chartered accountants to focus on financial management

Critical areas of expenditure will include our information technology systems, getting year 2000 compliant, upgrading provincial infrastructure (especially in rural areas) and facilitating interdepartmental co-operation with those departments critical to our service delivery, such as Home Affairs, to fast track the issuing of birth certificates to new-born children in poor rural households so that their care-givers can receive the new child support grant

Child Support Grant

A challenge concerning the child support grant is that the number of applications for the grant has been below the projected figures, particularly in the first two months - April and May Indications are that the past two months June and July, have shown a slightly better take-up rate.

The low take-up rate for the child support grant is a cause for concern. Our colleagues in the provincial welfare departments will be implementing measures to address this challenge in our poverty alleviation programme. We will also be marketing the new grant more aggressively.

Developmental social welfare

One of the innovations of the child support grant, in line with the new developmental approach we are taking in welfare, is to begin diverting beneficiaries from social security to enable them to become self-reliant. This programme - known as developmental social welfare - will be fast tracked.

Data Clean-up

As you know the Department of Welfare is engaged in a data clean-up of information on the computer system. This campaign is also aimed at weeding out fraud and corruption.

This clean-up mainly uses data mining technology to cross check information on our own system and to check that information with other systems. As part of our recent checking of data with other government departments we have uncovered cases which will be further investigated. These include 2o 982 cases of people who are simultaneously receiving a civil pension (as retired government employees) as well as an old age pension The value of these grants amount to R1 1,5-million per month.

We have also detected a smaller number of persons who are receiving payments under the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) while simultaneously receiving a state grant. These cases total 1 015 amounting to R477 138 a month

The provincial departments are investigating these cases as a matter of urgency. Should it be discovered that any of these persons received state benefits illegally, his or her grant will be suspended and the overpayment will be recovered.

Re-registration

A priority for us though is the re-registration process of all social security beneficiaries. This cannot be done by merely checking information on our computer system. For the re-registration to succeed, every single beneficiary of a grant or pension will have to be directly involved in the process. I want to assure beneficiaries that we will make every effort to minimise any possible inconvenience to them, For a start we now have in place uniform procedures which will be followed by all provinces when re-registering beneficiaries. In addition to uniform procedures each province has a specific strategy to implement over 18 months Essential to this is the need for valid Identity Documents and fingerprinting.

Social security summit

Later this year I will host a social security summit which will look closely into several areas The one being the link between the government run, non-contributory components of social security and the private contributory schemes, such as retirement funds. We are hoping to develop a social security system that will harness these components to promote greater individual responsibility and ensure sustainability of the safety net.

We will also be focusing on particular social security programmes such as the foster care grant and the disability grant. In the next few months, we will meet with welfare agencies to address particular concerns around the foster care grant.

Disability review

We have completed an initial investigation into the provision of disability grants as part of our social security programme. The main issues which the study explored included the following:

* the move from a welfare and health perspective on disability to one of empowerment and
* development as set out in the Integrated National Disability Strategy
* considering the role of the Department of Welfare in providing social assistance within a broad social security framework where other government departments as well as the private sector are crucial in providing comprehensive social security
* critically looking at the issues of poverty and disability and how they relate
* the lack of accurate data on the number of people who would be eligible for receiving disability grants
* the costs associated with disability and, linked to these, the disincentives for people to come off the grant
* fair and equitable criteria for determining eligibility to receive social assistance
* budgetary considerations

While a number of preliminary recommendations are made, further work will have to be done before any policy decisions can be made The report will be taken to the Welfare MINMEC and the national Cabinet before it is released for public consultation.

Increases in grants and pensions

There has been concern in some quarters that we would not be able to finance the two-stage increase in grants and pensions I announced earlier this year. I would like to confirm that we will be able to finance these increases from existing budgets. We have put in place a mechanism which will enable provincial departments to conduct monthly cash-flow monitoring and quarterly monitoring of the budget as a whole This is a first which we are sure will greatly improve our management of the social security function.

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