Seoul City, "Providing Living Expenses Support to Vulnerable Groups with Dependents" (Comprehensive)

Preventing Recurrence of the Bangbae-dong Mother and Child Tragedy... Abolish the 'Support Obligation System' to Eliminate Welfare Blind Spots
Support Based Solely on Income and Property Criteria... All Crisis Households Classified into 4 Stages with Mandatory Visits and Monitoring

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Seoul City will become the first in the nation to abolish the 'Support Obligation System,' which withholds livelihood support from low-income vulnerable groups if they have supporting family members with a certain income. While the government also plans to abolish the support obligation system under the Basic Livelihood Security Program in 2022, Seoul City is taking action a step ahead. The city expects that about 2,300 additional households will receive welfare benefits once the system is abolished.

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

In the Bangbae-dong case, the mother and child refused a household situation survey conducted by the local district office, so they did not receive additional support such as livelihood benefits and medical benefits under the Basic Livelihood Security Program, except for housing benefits (about 280,000 KRW monthly rent assistance). The deceased mother had a daughter who had lost contact, and the disabled son was excluded from support because his father, who was divorced from the mother, was the supporting family member. They also had long-term arrears on health insurance premiums but were not included in the Ministry of Health and Welfare's 'Welfare Blind Spot Detection System' because they were considered recipients, so monitoring was not conducted. They were excluded from the list as they were assumed to be receiving benefits under the existing system.

The city decided to abolish the support obligation system in the Seoul-type Basic Security Program entirely. On the 31st of last month, it 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 abolished, livelihood support will be provided to low-income vulnerable groups who were excluded from government basic livelihood benefits, even if they have supporting family members, as long as they meet income and property criteria (below 45% of median income and property below 135 million KRW).

Until now, crisis household visit monitoring varied by district, but it will be standardized into four levels according to the degree of crisis, and districts will be obligated to manage them responsibly. Depending on the crisis level, visit monitoring will be conducted monthly, quarterly, every six months, or annually.

Crisis households will be selected by including all those identified through the Ministry of Health and Welfare's welfare blind spot detection system (such as those who lost benefits or have overdue public charges), existing recipients who were excluded due to receiving public support, and near-poverty groups.

Due to restrictions on face-to-face care caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a non-face-to-face 'Smart Welfare Detection System' using IT technology will be introduced for elderly households and others at high risk of social isolation. This system automatically detects and responds to situations such as no electricity or smartphone usage for a certain period.

For the 'Care SOS Service,' which provides emergency care services such as housekeeping, nursing, meal support, and accompaniment for the elderly and disabled, eligibility criteria will be significantly relaxed so that those who fail to meet qualification standards can still receive services in urgent crisis situations. If income verification takes time or is ambiguous, support will be provided first under the principle of 'support first, verify later.'

Kim Seon-soon, Director of Seoul City's Welfare Policy Office, said, "The tragedy of the Bangbae-dong mother and child household was a sorrowful shadow of welfare blind spots that cannot be excused by the COVID-19 situation. Seoul City promises to operate a more meticulous 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.