"To Prevent Mother-Child Tragedies in Bangbae-dong" ... Seoul City Addresses Welfare Blind Spots by Abolishing 'Support Obligation System'

From Seoul-Type Basic Security System to Proactive Abolition... Support Based Solely on Income and Property Criteria
All Crisis Households Including Beneficiaries Classified into 4 Levels with Mandatory Visits and Monitoring

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Seoul City will abolish the 'Support Obligation System' for the first time nationwide to ensure that no vulnerable groups miss out on welfare benefits. The Seoul-type Basic Security System will be abolished, and all crisis households in Seoul will be classified into 1 to 4 levels, with autonomous districts visiting up to once a month. Additionally, a system will be introduced to quickly detect and support crises among isolated or neglected elderly and middle-aged single-person households.

On the 14th, Seoul City reviewed the existing welfare blind spot detection and support system and announced nine comprehensive improvement measures reflecting the voices of various welfare experts and field workers. This is a measure to prevent tragedies like the mother and child incident in Bangbae-dong that occurred at the end of last year from happening again.

The mother and child in Bangbae-dong were unable to receive additional support such as livelihood benefits and medical benefits under the Basic Livelihood Security System, except for housing benefits (about 280,000 KRW monthly rent subsidy), due to refusal to cooperate with the Support Obligation System. Although health insurance premiums were overdue for a long time, they were not included in the Ministry of Health and Welfare's 'Welfare Blind Spot Detection System' because they were recipients, so monitoring was not conducted. Recipients of the Basic Livelihood Security System were excluded from the list because they were considered to be already benefiting from the existing system. Care through welfare communities such as neighbors was insufficient, and the lack of active visits and counseling by field personnel was also analyzed as a cause.

Seoul City will first completely abolish the Support Obligation System of the Seoul-type Basic Security System. This is a measure ahead of the government's plan to abolish the Support Obligation System of the Basic Livelihood Security System in 2022. On the 31st of last month, Seoul City requested the Ministry of Health and Welfare to discuss the abolition of the Support Obligation System and plans to abolish it as soon as the Social Security System Deliberation Committee completes its review.

Once the Support Obligation System is abolished, low-income vulnerable groups who were excluded from the government's Basic Livelihood Security eligibility will receive support for living expenses as long as they meet income and property criteria, even if they have supporting family members.

Until now, visit monitoring of crisis households varied by autonomous district, but it will be standardized into 1 to 4 levels according to the degree of crisis, and autonomous districts will be obligated to take responsibility for management. Depending on the crisis level, visit monitoring will be conducted monthly, quarterly, every six months, or annually.

Crisis households include those identified through the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Welfare Blind Spot Detection System (such as those who lost recipient status, those with overdue public charges), and will also include existing recipients and near-poverty groups who were previously excluded from this support.

Due to restrictions on face-to-face care caused by COVID-19, the risk of social isolation has increased for elderly households, etc. Seoul City will introduce three types of non-face-to-face 'Smart Welfare Detection Systems' using IT technology. These include the 'Vulnerable Elderly IoT Safety Management Solution,' 'Smart Plug,' and 'Safety Service App,' which automatically detect and respond to situations such as no electricity usage or smartphone usage for a certain period.

The eligibility criteria for the 'Care SOS Service,' which provides emergency care services such as housekeeping, nursing, meal support, and accompaniment support to the elderly, disabled, and those aged 50 and over, will also be significantly relaxed. From this year, those who fail to meet eligibility criteria can receive services in urgent crisis situations, and in cases where income verification takes time or is ambiguous, 'support first, verify later' will be actively implemented to provide priority support.

Furthermore, to enable local residents who know their neighborhoods and neighbors best to effectively identify crisis households, the total of 110,000 resident welfare communities scattered across the city will be integrated and operated under titles such as 'Honorary Social Welfare Officers' and 'Neighbor Watchers.'

Kim Sun-soon, Director of Seoul City's Welfare Policy Office, said, "The tragedy of the recipient mother and child household in Bangbae-dong was a shadow of a tragic welfare blind spot that cannot be excused by the COVID-19 situation. Seoul City promises to operate a more detailed public welfare network, improve the limitations of the existing system, and care for citizens in crisis without blind spots through smart welfare using big data and the Internet of Things."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.