Caritas officials told the House Family Affairs Committee this evening that their study on A Minimum Budget for a Decent Living was very conservative and did not consider items which many people would consider ordinary - such as owning a car and a mobile phone and eating out once a month. he study also assumed that all family members were healthy.

Caritas director Mgr Victor Grech said there were patches of the population that were suffering material deprivation, and the number of these people was growing.

This Caritas study, he said, had been ongoing for more than a year.

The study was based on the bare living for three categories - a family of two adults and two children - which is the most common family unit; one parent families with two children - a growing category which constituted 59% of the population in Cospicua and 38% in St Paul's Bay; and elderly couples.

Leonid Mackay, lead author of the study, explained that the study was based on a basket of products and services which any family could not do without.

The study assumed that the three segments were taking the maximum of the social benefits they were entitled for, including social housing, free medicines and food made available by the EU. It was assumed that the children went to state schools and did not go to private lessons.

It was assumed in all cases that all persons were healthy, with no particular diet or health requirements.

The essential items were food, clothing, personal care, health, household goods, maintenance and services; education and leisure, transport and housing.

Not included were having a car, eating out once a month, going abroad once a year, and having a mobile phone.

The costings were made in September.

It resulted that in the case of two adults with two children, the bare requirement was for €10,634 per year, or €886 per month. For a single parent with children the basket cost was €8,581 per year and for the elderly couple the total requirement was €6,328 per year.

It resulted, from NSO data, that there were 3.3% of families in the first category who did not have this income. Even more worrying, more than half the single parent households - 57% did not have this minimum income, while 8.1% of elderly couples also could not reach this income. This amounted to a total of over 6,000 people.

Then there were many other families who had slightly higher income, enough to make them ineligible for some social benefits, making their situation just as critical.

Caritas is making a number of recommendations including an upward revision of the minimum wage to €180 per week (gross), a revision of the structure of social benefits and pensions based on these essential benchmarks.

It is calling for assistance to single parents, increased assistance to people who cannot work through no fault of their own, investment in community living,  more attention to secondary school students who do not continue their studies and better cooperation between Parliament, Church, NGOs, public, private enterprise and honest citizens to raise those living in poverty out of their situation.

Economist Karm Farrugia, who took part in the study, explained how the minimum wage, since its introduction in the early 1970s, was only raised on the basis of the official cost of living index and now needed to be raised by almost 14% which was not high considering the time that had passed. The current minimum wage was €1,600 lower than what the study found to be essential. Raising the minimum wage should not lead to raising other salaries but meeting the minimum requirements of the poor. Even raising the minimum wage as recommended would still not put these families outside the officially-recognised poverty level.

Dr Justyne Caruana (PL) said some vulnerable categories were not even included in the study, such as the case where people were sick. She noted the feminisation of poverty, with many of the poor being single mothers. She suggested consideration of  interim social assistance for emergencies. The same, she said, applied to the elderly. The study assumed that the elderly people were healthy, when the majority actually had health problems, with the resultant expenditure. She regretted that Gozo was not part of this study, noting that many Maltese, because of their private problems, moved to Gozo and there were serious social problems in areas such as Marsalforn, without a supporting network.

Replying to various other questions by a number of MPs, the Caritas officials said that while people who did not work would not benefit from a higher minimum wage, having a higher minimum wage would encourage more to work. They said that the findings reflected needs in Gozo, although Gozitans had higher transport costs.

Committee president Jean-Pierre Farrugia (PN) said the figures given by Caritas needed to be considered very seriously and they  were clearly very conservative. He said that with a general election being close, his suggestion was that Caritas should present its recommendations to the political parties. He felt that the parties should not hand out benefits in a universal manner but they should be aimed at those who were most in need.

Carmelo Abela (PL) said he agreed that this study was conservative and that it needed to be discussed more. He suggested that another recommendation which could be made was a clamp down on 'precarious work' by workers who were exploited. The state needed to intervene to ensure that workers were not paid below what was provided by law, and they should not be denied what they should be entitled for, such as sick leave.

He noted that the bare essentials on which the study was based excluded entertainment, which was so essential for a proper family life.

Dr Farrugia said that there could also be other forms of assistance by the government - such as assistance to those who had no access for sunlight to use alternative, cheaper energy.

Jesmond Mugliett (PN) asked if families with more than two children were included in the study.

Caritas officials said they were not, but the baseline had been set and could be extended.

Turning to the recommendations, Mr Mugliett asked if simplified procedures for the engagement of part-timers could help. He also noted that in many cases, rents were not registered. This was done for landlords to avoid tax, but one could perhaps consider a favourable tax rate to stop this abuse.

Mr Mugliett also stressed the need for community education to help the young avoid life's pitfalls.

Mr Abela noted problems within the social benefits net, such as the case where a family was denied some benefits if one of the sons worked, even though he would actually be preparing for marriage and his own life.

Mgr Grech said Caritas was succeeding in creating discussion. The time however, had come for solutions to be presented. This was not just about raising the minimum wage. Policy-makers needed to focus on getting things going instead of being distracted by various issues, even within the social sector itself. The issue now should be how the problems which had been identified would be tackled.

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