The challenge of welfare

The story of Olanda Speedwell, a 36-year-old disabled mother of three who lost her disability assistance grant for selling water, is a reminder that delivering welfare to needy recipients must be a nuanced process instead of hardline.

Ms Speedwell told Newsday that she was selling water for a meagre profit to make ends meet when she was told by a welfare officer that this was incompatible with her support grant.

Ms Speedwell received a disability grant of $2,000, from which she is expected to pay for rent, food and utilities while supporting three school-age children.

That math, in street parlance, is not mathsing.

Where in TT is a grown adult going to be able to stretch that money to meet those needs?

Ms Speedwell made no effort to hide what she was doing and when discovered, found herself classified as an income-earner for what is clearly a hustle to help provide for her family beyond the baseline payment from the Social Welfare Division of the Ministry of Social Development.

Meanwhile, the Social Development Ministry is looking to the Bankers Association for help in managing incidents of fraud and stolen cheques.

In fiscal 2021-2022, the Social Development Ministry acknowledged losing $50 million to fraud in public-grant funding.

The ministry reduced its budget allocation for senior citizens grants by $182 million in October after taking action based on the report of the Auditor General for 2021.

BATT president Richard Downie promised on Monday to work with the ministry on getting more of its recipients into direct deposit, but he must be aware that's just talk.

As are plans for digital currency with the Central Bank to reach unbanked, digitally-challenged senior citizens.

Bankers have their own priorities. Why not urge the e-money issuers – an enthusiasm of the Finance Minister – to design solutions?

The Social Development Ministry must divorce itself from unworkable traditions.

The ministry has already declined an offer to use a proven money transfer solution offered by WiPay in June, but has not called for any equivalent solutions through tender.

On Thursday, the Social Development Minister met with the National Insurance Board as a first step in what she described as an "all of government approach" to solving the problems her ministry faces.

If it takes the alarming losses at the ministry to force an end to the silos of information and authority that allow so many issues to continue for too long, the financial losses may ultimately prove to have been worth it.

In the case of Ms Speedwell, an "all-of-ministry" analysis would have made it clear to an assigned social worker that her circumstances were unsustainable. Instead, the ministry's system has made that family's situation impossible.