LONDON: Britain's Social Fund, set up to provide succour to people of low income groups facing financial difficulties, is not effective and does not fulfil the intentions for which it has been set up, according to the public affairs committee, which probed the fund's functioning.
The committee found that it is ridden with delays, mistakes and ignorance on the part of the people who run it and many people, who are entitled to get help from it do not even know of its existence.
Edward Leigh, chairman of the committee, said the fund symbolises what is wrong with several of the benefit programmes. "The people who need it most often don't know it exists -- and somewhat incredibly, neither do many of the jobcentre staff who are there to help them," Leigh said.
The fund was set up some 17 years ago to provide exceptional one-off or emergency payments. Loans extended to the needy are interest free and mostly recovered from welfare benefits. It had extended three million grants, loans and payments to the tune of 867 million pounds in 2004-2005, but the committee said the staff doling out the benefits made errors in nearly half of the applications. Only 52 per cent of the initial decisions were correct, the committee said.
The committee found that in some cases, applicants had to wait for more than three days for emergency loans to be processed.
The committee has also raised concerns over regional inequalities in sanctioning payments. It found that sanction of crisis loans -- intended to help meet emergency situations involving health and safety -- varied from 48 per cent to 94 per cent across regions.
An independent survey by the National Audit Office revealed that only half of people on low incomes knew that grants and loans were available for emergencies. Pensioners were found to be less likely to be using the scheme.
Leigh was critical of the entire operations of the fund. He said there were delays in processing the applications, the computer systems normally malfunctioned and the frontline staff were not able to access information they require. The result, Leigh said, is that people awaiting emergency help did not get it.
The department of work and pensions oversees the administration of the fund. A department spokesperson said the department staff is committed to administering it effectively and efficiently. He admitted that awareness and administration of the fund could be better and that the department is taking steps to correct the situation.
Posted
on : Wed, 16 Nov 2005 01:35 GMT | Politics News
By : Anne Philips
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