Effectively hold the bottom line of people's livelihood (authoritative release)
The executive meeting of the State Council held a few days ago deployed measures to increase the basic living security of the people in need, so as to secure the bottom line of people's livelihood.
At the State Council's regular policy briefing held by the State Council Information Office on August 26, Yang Yinkai, deputy secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission, introduced that from September this year to March next year, the price subsidy linkage mechanism will be adjusted in stages to implement "expanding the scope of protection". , reduce the starting conditions" policy, increase the price subsidy for the people in need, and earnestly hold the bottom line of people's livelihood.
The expanded policy is expected to cover 67 million people.
Additional one-time living allowances will be issued to people in need such as the minimum living allowances, which will be fully completed by the end of August
Since the beginning of this year, the basic guarantee measures have been continuously improved, and the assistance and assistance to the needy people have also been increased.
As of June this year, a total of 40.62 million people were assisted in urban and rural areas, including 7 million in urban areas and 33.62 million in rural areas. 554 yuan per person per month; in the first half of this year, the accumulated subsistence allowance fund was 92.62 billion yuan.
In order to implement the requirement of "expanding the subsistence allowance and increasing the efficiency", the civil affairs department has continuously improved the subsistence allowance system.
Liu Xitang, director of the Social Assistance Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, introduced that the seriously ill and severely disabled people in marginal households with minimum living allowances have been included in the minimum living allowances alone, forming a combination of household insurance and personal insurance, and the system has more capacity; encourages all localities to review and confirm the minimum living allowances The authority has been devolved from counties to sub-districts and townships in the past to improve review efficiency; in addition, a six-month to one-year retirement period will be given to subsistence-ensurement families whose per capita income exceeds the local subsistence allowance standard after they have achieved employment.
The temporary assistance system is mainly aimed at solving the sudden, urgent and temporary basic living difficulties encountered by the urban and rural people.
Since the beginning of this year, due to the impact of the epidemic and disasters, the number of people in need has increased.
A few days ago, the executive meeting of the State Council required that the additional one-time living allowances issued to the people in need such as subsistence allowances should be distributed as soon as possible.
Residents who are unable to return to work due to the epidemic, have no income for three consecutive months, and are not included in unemployment insurance, including migrant workers, can apply for a one-time temporary assistance at their place of residence or household registration.
Liu Xitang introduced that the work is progressing smoothly. All 17 provinces across the country have completed the distribution. A total of 8.08 billion yuan of subsidies have been issued to 40.18 million subsistence allowances and people in extreme poverty, accounting for 90% of the total number of people in need.
"It is expected that the work will be fully completed by the end of August, and the total amount of funds issued is expected to be close to 10 billion yuan."
This year, the central government allocated 154.68 billion yuan in aid and subsidy funds for people in need, an increase of 7.06 billion yuan over last year, and the local budgets have also increased investment accordingly.
In the first half of the year, the national government spent more than 120 billion yuan in subsistence allowances and other funds, an increase of 7% year-on-year.
Liu Xitang said, "Social assistance funds such as subsistence allowances are the focus of people's livelihood security and the focus of financial support. It is no problem to implement the management of special funds and to issue social assistance funds such as subsistence allowances in full and in time."
The price-subsidy linkage mechanism expands the scope of protection and reduces the starting conditions, which is expected to benefit about 9 million more people
From January to July this year, my country's consumer price index (CPI) increased by 1.8% year-on-year, and the month of July increased by 2.7% year-on-year.
Yang Yinkai said that due to factors such as imported inflation pressures and seasonal increases in pork prices, combined with the low base effect in the same period last year, the domestic price level may be slightly higher than the previous months from the second half of this year to the first quarter of next year.
In order to alleviate the impact of rising prices on the basic life of the poor, the price subsidy linkage mechanism will be adjusted in stages from September this year to March next year.
After the adjustment, the coverage has been expanded.
The current price-subsidy linkage mechanism covers urban and rural subsistence allowances, people in extreme poverty, people receiving unemployment insurance, special care recipients who enjoy regular national pensions, orphans, de facto unsupported children, and HIV-infected children. 58 million people.
On the basis of the above-mentioned 7 groups, this time, two groups, such as those receiving unemployment benefits and the marginal population with minimum living allowances, will be added to the protection scope of the price-subsidy linkage mechanism.
After expanding the scope of protection, it is expected to benefit about 9 million more people, covering a total of about 67 million people in need.
Where conditions permit, the scope of protection can be further expanded.
Wan Jinsong, director of the Price Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, introduced that people who receive unemployment benefits and marginalized people living with minimum living allowances will be included in the scope of protection in stages, mainly because those who receive unemployment benefits are unemployed, their income sources are unstable, and their lives are facing certain difficulties. ; Although the income of the marginal population with the minimum living allowance is slightly higher than the minimum living standard, the living standard is generally low.
After adjustment, the starting conditions were reduced.
The year-on-year increase of CPI in the starting conditions of the price subsidy linkage mechanism will be reduced from 3.5% to 3.0% in stages. At the same time, other starting conditions such as the issuance of price subsidies in the CPI will remain unchanged when the year-on-year increase in food prices reaches 6%, and any condition is satisfied. That is to start the price subsidy linkage mechanism.
"The lowering of the starting conditions is mainly to consider that affected by the epidemic, disasters, etc., the income growth of the disadvantaged people is more difficult, and the feeling of rising prices may be more obvious." Wan Jinsong said that after reducing the starting conditions, it is expected that the price subsidy linkage mechanism will be activated. The number of months and the start-up area will increase significantly, which means that more people in need can receive price subsidies.
All localities will issue temporary price subsidies of about 20 billion yuan to the poor
According to statistics, since 2020, a total of 31.5 billion yuan of temporary price subsidies have been issued in various places, benefiting 530 million people in need.
After the phased adjustment of the price subsidy linkage mechanism, it is expected that from September this year to March next year, all localities will issue temporary price subsidies of about 20 billion yuan to the poor, of which about 7 billion yuan will be increased due to the expansion of the scope of protection and the reduction of start-up conditions.
Where does the incremental funding come from?
According to reports, the increased expenditure funds for those receiving unemployment insurance benefits and unemployment subsidies shall be paid from the unemployment insurance fund; the additional subsidy funds issued to other needy people shall be subsidized by the central finance sub-regions, of which the eastern region subsidizes 30%. %, 60% subsidy for the central region, and 80% subsidy for the western region.
"The temporary price subsidy is first issued by the local government, and then settled by the central government." Wan Jinsong said that in the current situation of "tight days" for governments at all levels, the state still decides to adjust the price subsidy linkage mechanism in stages, and increase the price of the people in need. The strength of the subsidy fully reflects that the Party Central Committee and the State Council have always cared about and cared about the people in need, and always put the guarantee of the basic life of the people in need in a prominent and important position.
Yang Yinkai said that the National Development and Reform Commission will strengthen work guidance with relevant departments to ensure the orderly implementation of the price subsidy distribution and ensure that the policy deployment can be fully implemented.
Our reporter Lu Yanan
Our reporter Lu Yanan