Those caught in the “benefits and poverty trap” can enrol in a supported employment scheme run by the Leap project, Social Solidarity Minister Michael Farrugia said this morning.
The Leap project was initially aimed at targeting those families that needed assistance, offering them food packages funded by the EU.
In October, Dr Farrugia had announced that the government would be providing some 41,000 food packages to deprived families.
Through the family profiling carried out to identify those who needed assistance, the project also identified those that have for years been receiving social benefits and which have not registered for work.
“We will be giving these people training through job coaches so that they remain in employment as most would often need a lot of guidance as they would not be used to working,” Dr Farrugia told journalists during a press conference.
When offering such assistance, the minister added, it was crucial that those receiving help are made aware that living off benefits was not the way to go. Instead, they should be made aware that there are plenty of opportunities for them, despite having lived off benefits most of their lives.