Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/838705
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 18 JUNE 2017 26 Letters A radical overhaul of Malta's invalidity pensions will introduce a regular review of the benefit, after new rules on the pension were introduced last week. Over 8,800 claimants who today are 'boarded out of work' – a reference to the medical board which grants the lifelong pension – will have their cases reviewed at least once every three years in a bid to ensure the benefit is being awarded fairly. Under the new laws, the pension – for which government forked out Lm14.8 million last year – will no longer be as- signed for life. After a review of inva- lidity beneficiaries, the Ministry for the Family and Social Solidarity found over 60 per cent of claimants had been boarded out on grounds of psychiatric problems. Over 1,800 cases were since reviewed since 2006 over "various rea- sons", a ministry spokesperson said. Another innovation is that every beneficiary must first avail themselves of sickness benefit for six months prior to receiving an invalidity pension. But the pension will also be graded according to the severity of each case, for which doctors will use a scorecard to assess the level of impairment, and the corresponding benefit applicants would be eligible for. While government says the reforms will ensure that claimants can be "retained as active members of society for as long as possible", the impairment tables are one of the first steps aimed at ensuring a fairer welfare system that cuts abuse. Family and Social Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina called it a "philosophi- cal change" which will lead to a "radi- cally different conceptualization of the welfare system". Applicants for the pension will now have to provide a full medical history, without which their application will not be processed. They will now no longer be called in front of a medical board. The doctors, engaged by the ministry following an expression of interest, will assess the applicant's medical condition in terms of impairment, and in accord- ance with the impairment tables, to assess the loss of functional capacity that affects a person's ability to work. The tables are scaled according to a point-score system, based around a minimum qualifying threshold, and intended to guide doctors to 'rate' appli- cants in proportion to the severity of the case under consideration. "We must ensure that those citizens who truly deserve the state's support and help receive it, far beyond the simple financial pay-out," Cristina said. Last year, the costs of the medical panel, now reduced to 28 from 43 doc- tors, fell to Lm10,926 from Lm45,000 paid in 2005 in sittings, transport costs, and other expenses. Cristina said the government was now looking towards setting up a structure that will help in the rehabilitation and reskilling of beneficiaries. "This is consonant with the concept declared in the White Paper on Pensions issued in November 2004," she said. Boarded out pension no longer lifelong benefit News – 17 June 2007 Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. The Cittadella Traineeship Scheme Clique hindered glorious PN I refer to the news report penned by Saviour Balzan, published on Sunday, 11 June 2017 entitled: "Power of incum- bency: some 1,000 Gozitans got jobs weeks before election". More specifi- cally, I refer to the excerpt where Mr Balzan asserted that: "Over 100 new employees from the Gozo ministr y were stationed at the Cittadella in Victoria. Their attendance was noted by a palm- reader machine, but this was retained af ter the employees complained about the reader." I feel dut y-bound to reply for t wo main and simple reasons, the first being to correct factual inaccuracies regarding the Ċittadella Traineeship Scheme. This scheme, co-funded by ESF 2014 -2020, has 43 participants. They are grouped into six teams with each participant being assigned specific roles matched to his or her skills. There are mainly t wo stakeholders in this scheme: JobsPlus as the administrator of the scheme and the Ministr y for Gozo, as the training ser vice provider, who for this purpose, provided t wo foremen and five super- visors to manage and assist the par- ticipants. JobsPlus also sends regular unannounced monitors to monitor the participants, their work ethos and per- formance. Additionally, participants are obliged to attend weekly training and formation courses organised by JobsPlus as part of an upskilling exercise. The idea has never been to give these participants a government employment. In fact, they have never, at any point, been qualified as "workers". They have always been participants in a govern- ment-driven initiative by which these job seekers are given the opportunit y to gain work experience and improve their employabilit y status. They got training and formation in work ethos and ethics, inter-personal relationships at work and amongst other things, punctualit y. Yes, if there was one factually correct point in Mr Balzan's article it was the use of a palm-reader machine that was retained not withstanding the fact that not ever y- one might have been happy with it at the first instance. Nevertheless, the palm-reader was put in place and kept in operation. At the same time, these job seekers have been giving a ver y valid contribution to the countr y. If, to date, Ċittadella visitors are still being impressed with the cleanliness, order and upkeep of the site, that is entirely to the credit of these participants. I openly invite any media journalist to come and visit Gozo's Ċittadella, and compare and contrast its upkeep with any other equivalent historical site in Malta. Therefore, the 100 figure of "new employees" stationed at the Ċittadella is factually wrong on t wo counts – firstly because 43 is not 100, and secondly because traineeship scheme participants have never been put on the state payroll. The second reason why I feel com- pelled to reply is to express my disap- pointment at the way things are being dished out on newspaper pages. This is not the first time that the Ċittadella Traineeship Scheme has been cheaply reported. A few weeks ago, another news report tried to mock the scheme and take a dig at its integrit y. Back then, the Gozo Ministr y had replied to estab- lish the facts. Yet again, this time round, a new series of uninformed facts about this scheme is splashed on news pages. I would have at least expected the journalist to verif y the "information" he may have obtained before composing such a news item. Would readers and honest citizens be asking too much from media organisations to verif y their facts before publishing their stories? I am prett y sure that both JobsPlus and the Ministr y for Gozo would have found no difficult y in providing true and official information that has already been made public. Bottom line: there exists a number of persons, that despite of the employabil- it y-potential they may lack when com- pared to others, still merit the attention and efforts of a government that is true to its social conscience. This is what the Ministr y for Gozo has been tr ying to put into practice, and this seems to be the main target of some media persons who are more vocal than others. Is this the ser vice we want to render to those who are a tad more vulnerable? Mgr Dr Joe Vella Gauci, Victoria In hindsight everyone is right, but one must admit that anyone who kept repeat- ing Simon Busuttil's cry is no better than a fool. A month ago, thousands called on me asking why I made clear-cut declarations, asking me to wait for when the time is right and react. The truth is there is no other time in a dark era than to end it. The PN is exactly in the midst of it. Like many I fought tooth and nail to get rid of all the hindering elements till 2013. The best I could get was overriding the malicious obstacles while putting all in a checkmate position and leaving every- thing to implode. I asked Simon Busuttil to avoid making a scene of himself since his first day in the top seat. His eyes could tell he didn't know otherwise, though I gave him time to prove me otherwise. As he walked the talk we could see his lack of vision, his terrible judgement, a softy trying to play the bully. His insecurities rocked the party struc- tures. Anyone with a hint of political acumen could read the writing on the wall. He is politically incompetent and any- thing but a leader. He takes ages to de- cide on the obvious, and underestimates anyone with a hint of 'red' inclination. He kept unwanted fellows within the PN inner circles, such as Paul Borg Olivier, Karol Aquilina and Michael Fenech Adami. In top positions he added arrogance, mismanagement and non- starters with Ann Fenech, Brian St John and Rosette Thake. His ideas of fresh, innovative and crowd-pullers meant Salvu Mallia, Wayne Hewitt and Angelo Micallef amongst others. His biggest threat wasn't Joseph Mus- cat. His constant nightmares were Mario de Marco, Chris Said and Claudio Grech. All three possess great qualities which he lacks. We could see the constant mud- slinging towards the three MPs coming from within the PN's darkroom. It is this attitude that put me and many others off the Nationalist Party. A clique that believes people are sheep while they are the anointed, a superiority complex and aloofness that made the rest of the country wonder. Their lack of credibil- ity was certified by the largest political defeat in history. While we look forward to succeed further together as a nation, we hope this clique will not continue hindering one of Malta's most glorified political parties. Jean Claude Micallef, Zejtun