Government of Kazakhstan considers new approaches to providing targeted social assistance

AKIPRESS.COM - The government of Kazakhstan discussed new approaches to the provision of targeted social assistance based on the principles of transparency, justice and motivation for work, the press service of the Prime Minister reported.
The Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population Birzhan Nurymbetov introduced a bill providing for the application from Jan. 1, 2020 of an integrated approach and targeted social support measures:
- The introduction of state benefits to all large families with 4 or more minor children or full-time students under the age of 23;
- The quarterly appointment of the assistance for all family members, as the difference between the poverty line and the average per capita income of the family, with the condition that able-bodied family members work, and the state will help in finding employment, doing business;
- Providing the state with a guaranteed social package for children from low-income families: from 1 to 6 years old - with baby food, hygiene products and educational services, and from 6 to 18 years old - with free hot meals in schools, daily free travel on public transport, school uniforms, educational supplies.
Prime Minister Askar Mamin emphasized that the issue under consideration has a very high degree of importance.
"We are constantly improving the mechanisms for providing social support to the population. A lot of work has been done in this direction, which is under the special control of Elbasy. As the Head of State Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich Tokaev noted, the assistance mechanism should be "transparent, fair, motivate to work, and not to an idle lifestyle," Mamin said.
The PM ordered the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population, together with akimats, to organize explanatory work in the regions on new approaches to providing the assistance, by the end of October to submit a bill to the Parliament, and mayors of the regions to ensure clear implementation of the corrected measures for providing the assistance.
"Our citizens should know that all who need help, these are low-income families, large families, and children, have been and will remain under state protection. And those who can work, all conditions are created for them to be able to undergo training, get a profession, open their own business, get a job," the prime minister emphasized.