Ombudswoman examined 2,500 complaints in 2020

The ombusdwoman’s office examined some 2,500 complaints in 2020, many concerning delays in the payment of social security benefits and employment matters, Maria Stylianou-Lottides said on Wednesday.

Officials have assured that these delays will be addressed with the operation of the newly established deputy ministry for social welfare, the commissioner for administration and protection of human rights (ombudswoman) added.

Lottides, who was briefing the House Institutions Committee on her report for 2020, said other complaints brought to her office included the pandemic, issues from schools and from people with disabilities.

Complaints were more or less at the same levels in recent years, with benefits and employee relations at the forefront, she said.

A large number of complaints concerned economic support for employees after businesses suspended their operation during the pandemic, while there were also a large number of complaints regarding the minimum guaranteed income and other benefits, the Cyprus News Agency added.

Also in large numbers were complaints regarding employee relations concerning contract teachers and hourly contract workers and local authority workers. The number of complaints regarding property was also high, it said.

The ombudswoman’s office also examines complaints in her capacity as the commissioner responsible for monitoring implementation of the UN convention on the disabled, as well as in her capacity as the office that deals with complaints regarding discrimination, intimidation and harassment on the basis of gender and ethnicity.

In 2020, the office had 5,338 complaints before it of which 2,551 were submitted that year, 2,767 were pending from previous years and 20 were complaints that had been resubmitted.

The office completed examination of a total of 2,501, an average of 208 a month.

Of the 156 reports and investigations by the ombudswoman in 2020, there was compliance with 66 or 42.3 per cent.

In another 629 cases there was compliance following her intervention, without the need for a report, while 600 complaints were examined and found not to fall within her jurisdiction.

Asked by MPs about possible violation of human rights, she said that at issue was not the refusal of the state to fulfil its obligations but delays.

She told the committee that her main role was that of an intermediary, and if a complainant is satisfied with the first such move, this meant that there was no need for letters or reports.

Akel MP Andreas Pashiourtides said that some problems were not only continuing but growing, especially as regards the payment of benefits. People needed the money urgently, and the government should take all measures to cut down on red tape so that those in need would receive their benefits, he said.