Muscat: The Social Protection Fund (SPF) announced the opening of online registration, to avail childhood and the elderly benefits which are two of the benefits stated under the Social Protection Law issued by the Royal Decree 52/2023 in July.
Over 10,000 people had registered for the benefits by Sunday morning on the website spf.gov.om.
Hashim bin Mohammed al Hashemi, Director General of Customer Services, Social Protection Fund, said that the applicants must register only from the official website and should avoid following any shared links.
He said that benefits will be disbursed salaries from the end of January 2024 and there is no deadline for registration. "There is no need for children to have an ID because the civil number can be found on the birth certificate," he said.
As per the law, an applicant can be entitled to the child benefit as well the benefits offered to those with disabilities.
It was noted that many applicants reported delays in OTP either due to the system overload or inaccurate bank account number or other details.
Officials said that the bank account is linked to the civil as well as the phone number, providing updated details is necessary at the time of application.
The total number of beneficiaries of the two benefits is 1,467,000 citizens, of which 167,000 citizens are in the category of elderly, and those eligible for childhood benefit is 1,300,000.
The Social Protection Fund has stated that registration for benefits for widows, orphans, people with disabilities, and family income will be opened in the coming days.
It may be noted that the Article 30 benefit is payable at the rate of RO115 per month if the person fulfils the following conditions, must be Omani, must have reached the age of the elderly and must be a resident of the Sultanate of Oman.
As per Article 37, the childhood benefit is payable at the rate of RO10 per month for each child if the conditions are met - must be Omani, must not have reached 18 eighteen years of age and must be a resident of the Sultanate of Oman.
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