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Ministry rebuts low-income pension report

The Ministry of the Interior yesterday rebutted a media report that said stricter criteria for receiving low-income pensions have inconvenienced low-income families and caused some social workers to quit their jobs.

The thresholds were changed in January, a ministry official said yesterday.

The Chinese-language United Daily News reported yesterday that, after amendments to the Social Service and Rescue Law (社會救助法) were adopted last year, it has become more difficult for low-income families to qualify for the low-income household pension.

After the amendments were passed, the incomes of an applicant's family members -- including the applicant's direct lineal relatives, divorced spouses without guardianship of the children, the part-time job income of an applicant's children and the properties of a married female applicant's parents -- were now considered part of the applicant's "family income," the report said.

The stricter criteria has resulted in a 20 percent to 30 percent rejection rate in Miaoli, Ilan and Hualien counties, the report said.

The high rejection rate has also put social workers in danger, as many applicants that have been rejected have directed their anger at them.

"Some applicants even threatened social workers' lives after being rejected," the report said, adding that many social workers had decided to quit as a result.

Deputy Minister of the Interior Lin Mei-chu (林美珠) yesterday rebutted the report. He said that the ministry had reviewed its past policies and lowered the thresholds in January.

"In the new version of the law, we've lowered thresholds by changing how the population of a family is calculated, excluded certain real estate items from the calculation of a family's properties, readjusted the calculation method for Aborigines, extended the categories of social rescue target populations...and allowed local governments more flexibility when reviewing applications," Lin told a news conference.

Lin said that, while income revenues from all family members -- including that of married daughters, divorced spouses and members that had already left the family unit -- have now been included in a family's total income calculation, "the new version of the law authorizes local governments to make flexible judgments according to an applicant's family situation."

Those who were denied the pension in the past may reapply under the new law, she said.
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