The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Deputy Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

PEOPLE wanting school uniform assistance will be assessed according to need, Social Services and Urban Development Minister Frankie Campbell said yesterday.

The minister further insisted there was no "hard and fast rule" at the Department of Social Services stipulating those who received assistance last year would not receive help this year.

However, he admitted there was a possibility some students could miss receiving uniform assistance as his ministry is no different from others in that it is financially constrained.

This comes amid criticisms from Englerston MP Glenys Hanna Martin on the issue.

Last week, the shadow minister for social services and urban development called for an immediate reversal of changes to social assistance policy which she said was limiting aid for school uniforms.

Mr Campbell said: "The policy of the Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development as it relates to uniform assistance is similar to all of its assistance programmes. It is there for the needy. I emphasise needy because there is some grey line about who is in need and who is not.

"The department has a procedure of assessment in determining who is needy. There was some talk about persons who received assistance last year not receiving assistance this year. I want to make it emphatically clear that persons will be assisted according to their need. So all persons who are in need are eligible and entitled to apply. They will be assessed on their own merits and demerits.

"So there is no hard and fast rule that if you were assisted last year you will not be assisted this year. So there is no hard and fast rule across the board. There is no absolute," the minister also told reporters.

Asked whether there was a possibility some students could be left without uniforms, he said: "There is always a possibility, not just with social assistance. With assistance for any ministry there is always that possibility that there are some things that you want to do that you can't do.

"So that's not confined only to the Ministry of Social Services but I would have said earlier based on our resources and our assessed need, persons will be assisted, notwithstanding the speculation that if there are four children (in a home) only two will be assisted or the speculation that if you were assisted last year you won't be assisted."

Mr Campbell also suggested some people needing government help waited until the last minute to seek the assistance and then demanded help right away.

"I can say though that we are a people who naturally wait until the last minute but we won't, when we speak out, say that we waited until the last minute and that's why we weren't assisted in a timely fashion.

"(People should be) mindful that there is some assessment that has to be done. That you won't just walk in this morning and walk out with a set of uniforms. Persons ought to appreciate that you need to start the process early enough so that you could be assisted early enough," the minister added.