The Social Security Act (chapter 318 of the laws of Malta) : contributory, non contributory benefits and legal challenges

Abstract

The Act and especially the social security benefits are important because they serve as a lifeline for persons who solely depend on the benefits. For others, the benefits can serve as a top-up for what they normally earn from trade or going concern and they continue to operate after retirement age. The author’s aim in the first chapter is to provide a timeline of how various legislators tried to consolidate the Act back in 1987 and the various amendments proposed and finally enacted to close up any loop-holes and also implement new strategies from dependency to self-sustainability. Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 differentiate between two categories, these being the contributory and non- contributory benefits. The difference between the two is simply that to acquire contributory benefits these are pay as you go benefits whilst the non contributory depends on the situation of the applicant for example household composition and income of the particular family set-up. The latter benefits are means-tested and a certain threshold must not be exceeded for a single person or for a family unit to receive such benefits. The 5th Chapter revolves around family benefits that are paid to those having effective custody of their children. The legislator also focused on children that are taken care of by other persons known to them or not, by providing the foster care allowance that has also been increased in recent years. The position of the Director General for Social Security amongst others is treated in Chapter 6. The power of the Director General isto make decisions and finally these can either be that of accepting a particular application or elsereject it, even after consulting with the medical panel in relation to applications that are related to health conditions. The decisions taken by the Director General are reviewed by the Umpire nominated by the Minister to assess whether the decision taken was within the parameters of the Act or not. When the Umpire pronounces the decision after hearing both sides to the case, any of the parties can decide to file an appeal to the Court of Appeal in its inferior jurisdiction.