The Generalitat of Catalonia has committed to “exploring legal avenues” to develop an amnesty for vulnerable families who have received undue benefits in recent years. This was reported by the Minister of Social Rights, Mònica Martínez, who appeared in Parliament a week after it became known that 9,500 families had received aid that did not apply to them.
According to more up-to-date calculations, the number of possible undue charges has risen to 12,503 people, of which 2,829 cases have already been confirmed, for which a return has already been requested. On average, a refund of 7,757 euros is requested.
But this Tuesday, Martínez Bravo has committed to studying mechanisms that allow some cases to be free of returning the money. The counselor has specified that only those families who at the time of receiving the notification are still vulnerable and who prove that they have not acted in bad faith to receive the benefits will be amnestied.
And the improper payments have occurred for two reasons, according to the Government. There are cases of people who reported at the time a change in their personal and economic situation, but since the administration “took a few months to make the change,” these households have collected money that was not theirs, as explained by the Secretary General of the Department. , Raúl Moreno. On the other hand, cases of users who have not notified the change of status have also been detected.
The councilor wanted to remember that this problem is “unexpected” and has assured that “from day one” her team has worked to resolve it and stop the sending of new letters that inform possible beneficiaries of undue benefits. Likewise, the Government is working on improvements in the management system to prevent these problems from being repeated in the future.
The changes being studied by the Department are based on strengthening the teams and promoting the cross-referencing of data from the various administrations involved in the aid, since currently the collection is based on responsible declarations from the users themselves.
During his appearance, Martínez Bravo detailed that in the last four years, the General Directorate of Social Benefits has provided nearly 160,000 Guaranteed Citizenship Income aid.
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