The Ministry of Social Affairs paid out SR 21 billion in social insurance pensions and aid in 2011, according to a report on the ministry's achievements.
More than 1.4 million people who needed government assistance benefited from the payouts.
The ministry paid SR 10.69 billion to 703,625 beneficiaries of social insurance pensions to poor women, orphans and incapacitated people. More than SR 10.42 billion was distributed as assistance to 702,917 people who were temporarily incapacitated, families of prisoners, poor students, people with visual disabilities, victims of calamities and Saudi women married to foreigners, the report said.
The study also noted that 798,858 new cases, which were brought under the pension and assistance schemes in 2011, were paid SR 8.79 billion.
The social protection, development and social insurance schemes of the ministry covered all parts of the Kingdom, the report added.
It highlighted the goals of the ministry’s social insurance, which provides pensions, assistance, protection and shelter for the poor, orphans, disabled, widows and the aged, in line with the directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
The report classified the ministry’s services under four headings. The first section, entitled "The Social Insurance Agency," gives a detailed account of the distribution of pensions and assistance to eligible people.
The second section of the book, called "The Social and Family Care Agency," covers programs and services offered by the ministry’s community homes and establishments, while the third section entitled "The Social Development Agency" discusses the ministry’s help offered through community development centers and development committees. This section also covers the activities of various charity and cooperative societies. Their activities included the projects and services for the uplift of local communities.
The fourth section entitled "The Administrative Support Units," is devoted to the ministry’s community research and studies for human resource and community and administrative development, in addition to the ministry’s participation in international conferences and other events, the report said.
