On Tuesday, September 14, Labor Minister Zeta Emilianidou announced that by the end of the year, Cyprus will introduce a new automated system to solve the problem of long delays in the processing and payment of various types of benefits and subsidies.
Speaking in parliament, Emilianidou acknowledged that at present, applications are being processed very slowly. Because of this, in some cases, locals have to wait from four to eight months, sometimes even more than a year. Emilianidou stressed that the problem will finally be resolved. From the beginning of 2022, residents of Cyprus will apply online for benefits and subsidies.
The Minister of Labor noted that the Department of Social Insurance receives about 240,000 applications annually.
Emilianidou assured that the automation would save a lot of time. Now, in most cases, when an incomplete list of documents is submitted or they are filled in incorrectly, the specialists of the department have to send them for revision, delaying the process.
Thanks to the new system, incomplete applications will not be processed, so applicants will have no choice but to fill out electronic documents correctly.
Emilianidou belives in automated processing and payments. She gave an example of pandemic relief, where funds were transferred to bank accounts of about 200,000 people - in many cases within 10 days of applications.
For his part, Deputy Minister for Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Kyriakos Kokkinos said the public service in general has lagged behind modern trends using IT systems from the 1990s and even the 1980s. He added that the government's e-reform project will take at least two years. In this they are consulted by specialists from Great Britain and Germany.
Specifically for the labor department, Kokkinos called it his ministry's “biggest client” in terms of transaction volume.