The Ministry of Social and Community Development, Housing and Gender Affairs announces the continuation of island-wide recertification for the SEED (Support for Empowerment Education and Development) programme.

The recertification exercise, which has reviewed 2,268 households to date, has unearthed irregularities and inconsistencies in the programme which the Ministry is actively taking corrective measures to address, with a view to eliminate errors, reduce wastage, and ensure inclusiveness.

Initial reports on the current recertification process are already showing positive results, demonstrated by considerable cost savings to the programme. In light of the foregoing, the Ministry has taken the decision to add 500 cases to the SEED programme in April 2023.

The new cases all passed the Proxy Means Test (PMT) in 2016 but were not listed as SEED beneficiaries. Additionally, some of these households were temporarily placed on the Covid Economic Support Secretariat (CESS) programme, which ended in December 2022.

The Ministry is committed to the continuous review of SEED beneficiaries to ensure citizens who most need assistance are supported.

Recertification exercises have already been conducted in St. Andrew North-East, St. Andrew North-West, St. Andrew South-East, St. Andrew South-West, St. Patrick West, St. Patrick East, St. Mark, St. George North-East and St. David.

The remaining constituencies will be recertified over the next two months.