Social Aid

It refers to measures taken by the state and other social subjects to provide material or spiritual aid to citizens suffering from natural disasters and loss of work ability, or other low-income citizens, so as to maintain their basic living needs and guarantee their minimum living standards. Social assistance is one of the core contents of social security in China. It includes the subsistence allowance for urban and rural residents, disaster relief, medical assistance, relief for rural impoverished households, support for rural households “who are entitled to five forms of support”, unemployment assistance, education assistance, legal assistance, and temporary assistance, etc. In China, the social assistance targets are mainly urban and rural difficult groups, including urban and rural subsistence allowance (known as “Dibao” in China) targets, rural households “who are entitled to five forms of support”, impoverished households, and victims who need relief due to natural disasters, etc. The basic framework of China's new social assistance system: taking the subsistence allowance for urban and rural residents, support for rural households “who are entitled to five forms of support”, and assistance for urban wandering beggars and disaster victims as the basis, and special assistance for education, medical care, housing, employment and legal consulting, etc. as the backbone, organically connecting and coordinating various assistance schemes, and fully integrating and matching various preferential policies.

The system enables the dynamic management and classified implementation of urban Dibao, and promotes the rural Dibao to gradually move towards full coverage, improves the standard of support for rural households “who are entitled to five forms of support” and orphan care, expands the beneficiaries of urban and rural medical assistance system, improves the victim relief standard and enhances timeliness. The main features and development directions of social assistance in China are: legalization of assistance schemes, universal coverage, scientific and standardized relief, standardized operating procedures, democratization of supervision and management, modernization of work methods, and socialization of service methods. Social assistance is the basic guarantee of residents’ right to survive and the inherent requirement of developing market economy.

The funds for social assistance come from four sources: state fiscal appropriation, credit for poverty alleviation, social donations and international assistance, and the value-added social assistance fund. The fundamental purpose is to provide aid to the poor and relief to the needy, and to satisfy the minimum living needs of the disadvantaged groups. Social assistance provides only funds or in kind to meet the minimum living needs, with the purpose to find a proper balance between fairness and efficiency. It does not ask about the causes of poverty, but only cares about whether the beneficiaries are really in poverty. It is the last security net in the social security system. It reflects that the government exercises the power of social justice, institutionalizes the power of justice, cares about people's livelihood, puts the social public interest at the first place, and protects public interests and disadvantaged groups by leveraging the state public power. The responsibility of social assistance is only to make the life of the beneficiaries equal to or slightly higher than the minimum living standard, so as to avoid the mentality or the idea of reaping without sowing. As long as the income of the beneficiaries exceeds the minimum living standard, the assistance will be interrupted accordingly. The “Interim Measures for Social Assistance” issued by the State Council in 2014 provided a legal basis for the development of social assistance.

The “Measures” established the social assistance system, and established the planning and coordination mechanism for social assistance guided by the government, led by the civil affairs departments, coordinated by relevant departments, and participated by social forces. It adhered to the coordinated development of urban and rural assistance that benefited all urban and rural residents in difficulties, and reinforced the economic status inquiry and verification mechanism for social assistance families, which laid the foundation for scientifically and accurately identifying the social assistance targets and improving the exit mechanism to ensure the fair and impartial implementation of social assistance. Social assistance is conducive to protecting the basic lives of social members, and stabilizing social order, effectively makes up for the shortcomings of the social insurance system, and plays an important role in adjusting resource allocation, achieving social equity, and maintaining social stability.