The Deputy Spokesperson for the Social Security Office (SSO) Nanthachai Panya Suravat said on Tuesday that the reason why the office was taking so long to hand out unemployment benefits is because their computer system is outdated.
He said the current system is an older version of a system called “Sapiens” which they used to asses and verify insurers’ data. It was not designed to cope with the heavy workload.
According to Nanthachai, all data must be input by hand and the computer allegedly needed time to process information so workers could not work at night.
Labor Minister Chatumongkol Sonakul said on Wednesday that about 990,000 workers have filed for the unemployment benefit as of May 5. About 492,000 cases have been approved by the SSO and around 2.56 billion baht has been paid out so far.
Emergency aid cutoff approaching
The deadline to register for the 5,000 baht emergency aid for informal workers is Friday, while a similar scheme for farmers will also expire next week. The appeals deadline for those that did not meet the original criteria is also set to expire.
About 2 million workers whose job has been affected by the coronavirus outbreak and the nationwide lockdown have filed appeals.
The Ministry of Finance has moved its complaint center to the Public Relations Department on Tuesday to observe social distancing as thousands of rejected applicants have been appealing for their cases at the ministry in person.
Farmers hand out
The Ministry of Agricultural on Wednesday urged unregistered farmers to register with government agencies in order to receive the government’s cash handout program.
About 10 million farming households are expected to receive 5,000 baht per month for 3 months (May, June and July) to offset wage lost due to the coronavirus.
The state-owned Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) will start transferring the money on May 15. They can transfer the money to at least 1 million recipients per day.
Of the 10 million farming households, about 7-8 million have BAAC accounts. The remaining household that have yet to update or registered as farmers should do so, said the Ministry of Agriculture.
The deadline to register is before May 15.
