Dear Maddalena,

Please find the answers to your questions bellow in red.  I am available for the phone call tomorrow at 13:00 Tbilisi time or later at your convenience.  During phone call I would also like to clarify Section 2: Social protection component objectives as described in preliminary SEP sent by you.

Looking forwards to your response.

Kind regards,

Tamila

Dear Tamila,

I hope this email finds you well.

We would like to ask you and your technical team few additional clarification questions related to the update of the PMT score and, more broadly, the TSA system. Answers to the questions will inform both the emergency project under preparation and our analytical work on the PMT update. 

Regarding this last work on the proposed changes in the PMT formula, we would be ready to present our findings next week (this week we are finalizing the project package). We understand you are very busy, hence please suggest a day and time for us to present our findings and to receive your feedback and we will accommodate accordingly.

1. In one of our phone calls, you informed me that there are plans to adapt TSA to the emergency needs of the Covid-19 crisis, most notably by (i) postponing the deadlines for PMT recertification, (ii) relaxation of registration requirements (number of documents needed) with SSA and (iii) abolishment of home visits. Please kindly confirm whether (i) the above measures have been already adopted, (ii) if yes, through which legislation (amendments) and (iii) whether additional measures related to the TSA were adopted to simplify implementation processes beyond the 3 listed above (payment for example?), and make them compliant with the stay-home and hygiene requirements imposed by the COVID crisis.

-          All aforementioned changes have been reflected in Government decree #184 of March 23, 2020, “On Establishing Different Rules for Implementation of Public Services and Administrative Cases in the System of the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia”.

2. We would like to have a better understanding of how PMT scores evolve over time for currently registered households. Our understanding is that some components of the PMT score are updated automatically every month (labor income, electricity expenditures for example), some other are based on beneficiary declarations (death, birth) while others on the recertification (living conditions of the residence).  Please confirm if (i) our understanding is correct, (ii) which are the household characteristics that are cross-checked automatically and (iii) how often automatic update happens.

-          When a social agent visits a family, when the declaration is filled out, the declaration reflects the actual situation at a given moment, except for a few components: How much was the family’s total cash income from the sources listed below in the past 12 months? How much did they pay for utility bills over the past 12 months? The consolidation score is calculated by consolidating this information. In the following months, based on the information received from various administrative bodies on a monthly basis during the administration process, deaths, intersections, revenues, vehicles, and real estate is  verified. Based on this information, the Agency is authorized to make a decision to suspend, terminate, re-verify the subsistence allowance, etc. The family itself is obliged to notify SSA in case of addition / withdrawal a family member, crossing the border, buying real estate, etc. Otherwise, the benefit is automatically suspended.  Note:  As per the Government degree #184 of March 23, 2020, the benefits are not suspended regardless of received information by the SSA.

3. How does SSA cross validate applicants’ self-declaration of income and revenues? Is there usage of recorded transactions, for instance? What components of households’ declared revenues are verified? Are such controls performed periodically on each household; are they automatic; are they performed on a random sample?

-          The LEPL Social Services Agency receives monthly information about the income of individuals from the LEPL Revenue Service. The family only provides information on income from private activities and income received over the past 12 months and cross validation of such income is not done.

4. Concerning the current PMT formula, we note that social assistance transfers enter the revenue index (although with a cap). We are wondering what was the rational for this choice.

-          The subsistence allowance is included in the income, but according to the formula if the family is the recipient of the subsistence allowance that lowers the rating score, assuming that recipient families are poor.

5. Still concerning the PMT formula, we notice that only cash revenues from the second last month are considered, and not revenues from the last month before the registration. Would you be able to share some opinions on the rationale for this choice?

-          LEPL Revenue Service has information about second to last month revenues. Consequently, it cannot provide us with the information of the previous month.

Maddalena, on behalf of the team