Increase in financial grant to benefit 7,000 Dubai families

Dubai: A total of 7,000 families will benefit from an increase to their financial assistance provided by the Dubai Community Development Authority.

The authority has finalised its financial benefits policy, with the allocation of an annual budget of Dh348.48 million. The move to increase assistance is in line with the directives of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, regarding Dubai's Strategic Plan 2015.

Khalid Al Kamda, director-general of the authority, said that the ceiling of financial aid provided to beneficiaries is being raised. "A family of six members will have a monthly assistance of up to Dh17,700 by developing an integrated system that shifts the family from the stage of care to the stage of development, and then, empowerment," he said.

The authority has laid down a comprehensive and flexible law, which will be issued soon, to activate the emirate's political approaches and address current socio-economic gaps.

The scheme aims to provide Emirati citizens in Dubai with a dignified life through an integrated system of financial benefits that helps beneficiaries achieve financial self-sufficiency without having to be reliant on the aid in the long term.

Financial benefits provided include monthly payments, emergency financial aid, allowances, soft loans and temporary housing. The policy is based on a survey of family income and expenditure in the emirate conducted by the National Centre for Documentation and Research from 2007 to 2008. This survey was updated by the Dubai Statistics Centre in 2009, and the report showed that Dubai's rate of expenditure is 43 per cent more than that in the UAE.