By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

PERSONS receiving food assistance from the Department of Social Services should soon see an increase of as much as five per cent in benefits to offset the introduction of value added tax, Social Services Minister Melanie Griffin said.

Presently, benefits range from $80 to $180. The proposed increase will move benefits between $84 to $189.

“VAT came in on January 1,” Mrs Griffin said during a recent interview. “Persons would have received food assistance just prior to the holiday. They won’t be receiving it again until the end of January, unless there is some emergency and they come forward. That is when we will be able to say what the feedback is, what the impact may be at that particular time.”

She added: “Our advice has been that the experience with VAT in other places is that there is usually a 3-5 per cent increase in food prices, so that is why we immediately moved to start with the higher 5 per cent.

“We have that approval and will move to put it in place to offset any fallout.”

The minister added that the government’s introduction of pre-paid Visa cards for persons eligible for Social Service benefits have been “extremely successful”.

Mrs Griffin said that the pre-paid card programme had been for the past month allowing nearly 600 persons to shop with ease. The initiative is a part of the first phase of the government’s safety net reform plan for the Department of Social Services.

“The entire process has been a great success,” Mrs Griffin said. “We started this programme at our Wulff Road station and as a result of the excellent response there, we are moving with haste to implement the programme elsewhere.”

She revealed that the department has plans of “rolling out” the programme at a number of other stations in the coming months, including Fox Hill and Robinson Road.

The card, which was launched in November, replaced the food coupon and is being done in conjunction with the Bank of The Bahamas.

The Department of Social Services indicated during the card’s launch that its use is restricted to food purchases and could not be used in a web shop, liquor store, clothing or a beauty supply store.

“There were only a few instances where persons tried to use their cards inappropriately, but we contacted those persons quickly and resolved all problems in those cases,” Mrs Griffin said.