Society

Eligibility for funds to be checked

By Chen Xin (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-28 08:07

BEIJING - The Ministry of Civil Affairs has asked local departments in urban areas around the country to check whether the recipients of the minimum living allowance are qualified to receive it.

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"By the end of this year, urban households that are not eligible for the allowance must stop enjoying it," the ministry said in an announcement on its website.

Family income should be a key basis to verify the applicants' qualifications, while their properties, such as securities, savings, housing and cars, should also be assessed, the announcement said.

Loopholes exist in the verification process, and a number of homeowners who were not eligible for the minimum living allowance were allowed the privilege, it said.

Figures from a work report by the National Audit Office in June show 62,900 ineligible families had enjoyed the minimum living allowance of some 330 million yuan ($49 million) last year. Some 11,900 of them owned private cars or at least two residential houses.

"The move to check the qualifications of minimum living allowance applicants at a national level is quite necessary," Lu Xuejing, a social security expert with Beijing-based Capital University of Economics and Business told China Daily on Monday.

Some people who are ineligible for the allowance may use personal relationships to win it, Lu said, adding that such moves will harm the interests of eligible people.

To verify the qualifications of the applicants, related departments should report the applicants' family income and the real life they lead after a household investigation.

The neighbors of the recipients will be interviewed about the recipients' lifestyle. The local civil affairs departments will make the applicants' names, number of family members and their allowance open information to the residents in the community.

The announcement also stipulates that county-level civil affairs departments should regularly recheck the qualification of grantees to see if they are eligible to continue receiving the allowance.

The ministry will cooperate with other sectors such as taxation, real estate, social security and vehicles, to set up an efficient mechanism to check family income and properties.

The cross-departmental checks on family income have been carried out in 33 cities nationwide in the first half of this year, the Beijing News cited Li Liguo, minister of civil affairs, as saying.

"In the latter half of the year, we will quicken the establishment of the income check mechanism," Li said.