Payment of a special allowance to the thousands who have applied for financial support under the various Labour Ministry schemes amidst the Covid-19 crisis will start on Tuesday and should be completed by Thursday, before banks close for Easter, Minister Zeta Emilianidou told CNA on Sunday.
But she said there were errors in the bank details of about 11,000 of the 160,000 or so applications which officials were trying to clarify.
She assured that payment will be made in these cases too, but this will be after Easter and once the discrepancies have been resolved.
In an update on her Twitter feed later on Sunday afternoon, the minister said that 197,377 electronic applications were made on the portal for the ministry’s schemes.
Έχουν μέχρι στιγμής υποβληθεί οι ακόλουθοι αριθμοί αιτήσεων και δηλώσεων αναφορικά με τα Ειδικά Σχέδια που υλοποιεί το Υπουργείο Εργασίας, Πρόνοιας και Κοινωνικών Ασφαλίσεων: pic.twitter.com/snk1o5gpo2
— Zeta Emilianidou (@ZetaEmilianidou) April 12, 2020
Eligible applicants have been asked to submit their bank details on a Labour Ministry portal. The allowances are to be transferred direct into these banks accounts.
The minister said that initially, 20,000 of the applications had problems but Labour Ministry officials were able “after considerable effort” to resolve about 9,000 of these.
Emilianidou said that a text message had been sent to those who had errors in the details submitted, while efforts were also made through their employers by email.
The problem was that applicants had submitted a bank account number on the ministry’s portal that could not be confirmed with the bank.
“If someone opened a bank account with a passport number or other details, and then gave an ID number to the Labour Ministry, the bank could not confirm whether the applicant was in fact the same person.
“We can’t transfer money to accounts that we do not know belong to the actual beneficiaries,” she said.
The first rule was confirmation of the information. The ministry has started reviewing corrections so that payment can start. For those who haven’t, payment will be after Easter.
But she assured that all those eligible will receive their money. “The first payment is on April 14, but we our work continues on the information that was submitted,” she said.
Banks will be closed over Easter, but the ministry will continue clarifying discrepancies.
“They must not worry. But without the correct data, we cannot proceed.”
Meanwhile, social insurance pensions for April were paid on April 8. Payment of the minimum guaranteed income, the allowance of mothers with many children and the Easter gift for low income pensions will be paid by April 14, she said.
According to the minister’s update, the breakdown of the applications is as follows:
Special sick leave: 9,069
Special leave for child care: 14,348
Special allowance for self-employed: 21,593.
Moreover, 22,528 businesses/employers applied for the scheme (complete or partial suspension of business) for payment of a special unemployment benefit to 154,093 employees.
