Social insurance fund speeds up benefit payments

Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou announced on Thursday that there have been improvements in the speed of payments from the social insurance fund.

Comparing data from June 2024 to June 2023, Panayiotou highlighted significant progress in response times for benefit payments, covering 87 per cent of claims submitted to the social insurance fund.

Out of 82,573 claims submitted in the first half of 2024, 71,606 were for pensions, childbirth allowance, maternity allowance, paternity allowance, unemployment benefits, and sickness benefits.

He noted that timely payments have been achieved for pensions, childbirth allowances, and maternity allowances. Pensioners now receive their first payment within one month of retirement, and mothers receive their first payment within one month of childbirth.

The minister also said the “response has been significantly accelerated” and the median time for processing applications for the payment of the paternity allowance has been drastically reduced by 63. 3 per cent and a reduction in the processing time from 4.4 months to 1.4 months.

For unemployment benefits, he said the payment time was reduced by 48.1 per cent and a reduction in the processing time from 4.5 months to 1.3 months was recorded.

Regarding sick leave benefits, the minister said there was a reduction in payment time by 58.4 per cent and a reduction in the processing time from 6.1 months to 2.1 months.