Mr Murali Pillai asked the Minister for Social and Family Development with respect to households assisted with ComCare Short-to-Medium-Term Assistance (SMTA) that wish to have the support renewed (a) whether there is a difference in the review period for households assessed to require short-term assistance as compared to the review period for medium-term assistance under SMTA; and (b) what is the average review period for the purposes of assessing applications for renewal in both circumstances.
Answer
The term “Short-to-Medium-Term Assistance (SMTA)” is a single category describing ComCare assistance that is not long-term in nature.
2 In terms of both the processing time and duration of approved support, we make no distinction between what may be considered short-term or medium-term assistance. More than 9 out of 10 ComCare applications, including renewal applications, are processed within four to six weeks once the necessary documents have been submitted by applicants. Approved applications are typically for periods of about three to six months, and are renewable on further application.