Praneeta Prakash 
[Photo: FILE]
The Social Protection Ministry has announced major reforms to the Family Assistance Scheme, including an updated poverty targeting system to improve accuracy and fairness in identifying the poorest households.
Minister Sashi Kiran told Parliament that the Cabinet has approved a revised Proxy Means Test, used to determine eligibility for Fiji’s main poverty assistance programme.
She says the current PMT is based on 2008–09 Household Income and Expenditure Survey data and no longer reflects current economic conditions or household assets.
Kiran says the updated system will continue to use a hybrid model combining the PMT with special categories for consideration.
It means that our officers and assessment teams must scrutinize applications beyond what meets the eye and must consider salient and underlying issues that may have contributed to the hardship that the applicant faces.
Kiran says the PMT will continue to be reviewed every five years in line with new national household survey data.
These steps will ensure that the FAS remains fair, transparent, and responsive to the realities faced by Fiji’s poorest households.
Opposition MP Virendra Lal raised questions about whether the system adequately captures newly poor households.
How does a model based on 2019-2020 data identify a family that lost everything after the pandemic? Is the system flexible enough to catch those who were stable six years ago but are destitute today?
Minister Kiran rejected claims that the reforms would exclude vulnerable households, stating that social protection coverage has increased overall, with beneficiary numbers rising from approximately 96,000 to 108,000.
