Not everyone on social benefits is ‘lazy’, Jesuits tell government

The Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice has warned against generalisations on benefit fraud that is giving an impression that the unemployed and dependants of social benefits are “lazy” and taking social benefits “out of choice.”

Commenting on the Budget 2015 pre-budget document that seeks to push more people into jobs and discourage dependencies, the JCFJ said it was becoming commonplace to hear politicians speak out against social benefit abuse.

“The government affirmed that every year it is being defrauded of €3.5 million. Whilst agreeing that social benefit fraud is unfair on taxpayers and is to be condemned, these €3.5 million represent 2% of the total yearly cost of non‐contributory benefits in Malta, which amount to €165 million.

“The political rhetoric may be conveying the idea that social benefit abuse is rampant, when the estimates provided by the government itself show that the immense majority of those who receive some sort of benefit are not fraudsters, but are receiving what is rightly theirs,” the JCFJ said.

The JSCF acknowledged that while the cycle of dependency can exacerbate social and psychological problems of families and individuals, there will always be a portion of the population who genuinely cannot enter the labour market because of sickness, disability and mental health problems.

“Others still are fully occupied taking care of family members. These people deserve to be helped and not to be ‘blamed’ for receiving support from other members of society.”

The government to reduce not only dependency but also the rate of those who are at‐risk‐of‐poverty, which in 2013 reached the figure of 15.7%, or 64,966 persons living in private households.

But the JCFJ said that poverty remains a complex and multi‐faceted phenomenon. “The pre‐budget document 2015 fails to mention the situation of the working poor who are those who despite being employed, have a disposable income which puts them at‐risk‐of‐poverty. The latest figures indicate that in Malta 5.9 per cent of the working population is touched by this reality.

“Moreover, the pre-budget document is silent on the issue of poverty and social exclusion faced by migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees who also stand a higher risk of labour market exploitation. In other words, it is useless trying to raise the employment rate in a bid to reduce poverty, if, at the same time, the job opportunities provided are neither adequate nor stable, failing to provide an income that gives workers and their families a decent standard of living.

“The Centre for Faith and Justice thus encourages the government to pursue its strategy to ‘make work pay’ and to persevere in its fight against all forms of precarious work.”