Cabinet has endorsed an updated Proxy Means Test (PMT) designed to more accurately identify the most vulnerable households eligible for Fiji’s Family Assistance Scheme, the Government announced on Thursday, marking the latest development in efforts to tighten targeting across the social protection system.
Officials said the revised PMT uses more recent and more comprehensive data than the model it replaces, and is intended to cut both inclusion and exclusion errors so that cash and in-kind support reaches those who need it most. “The updated model will better identify the most vulnerable households and improve the accuracy of support delivery,” Government said in a statement, adding that safeguards will be retained to prevent vulnerable groups from being excluded.
The endorsement comes as the 2024–2025 Budget allocates FJ$200 million to support more than 104,000 beneficiaries across multiple social programmes. The figure covers recipients under the Family Assistance Scheme as well as the Social Pension Scheme, Care and Protection Allowance, Disability Allowance, Rural Pregnant Mothers Food Allowance and the Transport Assistance Scheme, according to the Government’s announcement.
Cabinet’s backing clears a key institutional hurdle for the PMT update and signals a shift towards more data-driven eligibility decisions. The move follows recent capacity-building efforts inside the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Protection, where officers have been trained in data management and analysis to support evidence-based policymaking. Ministry officials have in the past emphasised that improved data capability is central to effective social protection delivery.
Government materials on the change stress that the revised model aims not simply to reduce administrative costs but to improve the efficiency and equity of support delivery. By relying on updated indicators and a broader set of household characteristics, the PMT is expected to more finely distinguish households’ ability to meet basic needs, reducing misallocation of scarce resources in a constrained fiscal environment.
Practical next steps and a timetable for rolling out the updated PMT have not been published in the Cabinet statement. Policy-makers will need to finalise technical validation, update enrolment databases, and communicate changes to communities and frontline staff before any reassessments or adjustments of benefit receipt take place. Officials said safeguards will remain in place during the transition to protect groups who may be at risk of being inadvertently excluded.
The Government framed the change as part of an ongoing modernisation of Fiji’s social safety net. As implementation proceeds, stakeholders will be watching for details on how the model handles remote and informal households, how appeals or grievance mechanisms will operate, and what monitoring will be used to ensure the updated test delivers the promised reductions in targeting errors without creating new gaps in coverage.
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