National Social Protection Agency (NSPA) has revealed that single parents have received USD14 million in the past four years.
Statistics from NSPA show that the number of individuals registered for the Single Parent Allowance programme is increasing. As such, 3,133 single parents supporting 5,413 children registered so far this year, and USD3.5 million have been spent on single-parent allowances. The statistics show that single parents received USD3.2 million to support 2,501 children in 2019, USD3.6 million to support 2,905 children in 2020, and USD4 million to support 3,067 children in 2021.
The Single Parent Allowance programme was introduced in 2008. However, an amendment brought to the programme in 2016 left many single parents barred from receiving the allowance. The ministerial cabinet solved the issue by raising the ceiling for the single-parent allowance from USD194 to USD645 in 2019.