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China's State Council recently announced a national program what will offer provisional aid to underprivileged Chinese families and is expecting that local governments impose the new program before the year ends.
According to the statement from the State Council, the new program will grant temporary assistance for poverty-stricken families and citizens who are facing financial difficulties because of emergencies such as house fires, natural disasters or grave sickness.
The assistance that will be given may be either in cash or immediate supplies such as food and clothing. Authorities will be helping recipients to move to more beneficial long-term programs if they qualify to do so. People who are not under any existing social programs will be receiving assistance from the new program, according to the statement.
"This is a much needed improvement to the social security program. It helps close some loopholes," said Han Keqing, the Renmin University of China's social insurance department head at the school of labor and human resources.
Han also said that the new program offering, compared to existing long-term programs, has more flexibility with regards to the recipient's qualification and household registration stats for migrating workers. The recipient in need will not be needing a household registration account in order to be granted assistance.
Most of the workers who migrate frequently reside in cities, but their household registration is left at their non-urban hometowns. Existing social security programs do not cover migrant workers whether in the cities or in their hometowns.
The statement says that people in need can directly apply for the said social program, but it also urges the local officials to actively find those citizens in need. County governments and above can create their own standards for the program's recipients.
Out of all 31 provincial divisions in China, 26 have identical social programs, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
