Probe to target use of subsidies

Inspection to focus on proper checks to identify eligibility for assistance

The State Council is about to launch a national investigation of whether local governments have properly used "lifesaving" money to subsidize underprivileged families, a senior official said.

The inspection will focus on whether local governments have conducted financial status checks to properly identify those eligible for the minimum living subsidies, Dou Yupei, vice-minister of civil affairs, told China Daily in a written interview.

Ensuring that local governments adjust subsidy standards to keep pace with inflation and have earmarked sufficient funds are other key areas that will be highlighted during the inspection, he said.

The moves come one year after the State Council, or China's cabinet, issued guidance on improving the minimum living subsidy policies.

Minimum living subsidies are "lifesaving" money and the ministry applies "zero tolerance" to any malpractice in this regard, Dou said.

To verify applicants' eligibility, since 2009 the ministry has started pilot programs in 143 regions that require relevant governmental departments and financial institutions to carefully check an applicant's family income, bank accounts, ownership of vehicles, property, stocks and other assets.

Dou said the process of sound financial evaluations of applicants will be adopted nationwide by the end of 2015.

Lu Hanlong, a professor at the Institute of Sociology under the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said there is a worrying phenomenon that some local officials wink at false claims from friends and relatives.

It is urgent to bring in social workers to conduct the verifications and strengthen frontline workers' accountability by requiring their signatures on the distribution lists so the government can trace false claims and make sure rule violators are punished, he said.