6 million to get new aid offer

Welfare rules eased after complaints

Farmers, elderly people and others arrive at the BAAC branch in Lam Plai Mat district of Buri Ram province on July 17 to seek assistance from bank staff in checking their eligibility for the state welfare card scheme. (Photo: Surachai Piragsa)

The Finance Ministry will today ask the cabinet to move six million people who failed to qualify for the 2026 state welfare card programme into a new co-payment scheme, while easing rules blamed for unfairly excluding low-income people.

The new support scheme, called "Thais Help Thais Plus", was explained by representatives from several key ministries at a press conference yesterday, while detailing measures to assist citizens excluded from the programme.

As part of that, the government plans to relax several eligibility criteria following widespread complaints that existing rules unfairly excluded low-income applicants.

Finance Ministry spokesman Vinit Visessuvanapoom said the 2026 state welfare card programme's eligibility criteria were designed to identify the country's most vulnerable citizens, but he acknowledged that complaints about vehicle ownership rules had exposed shortcomings that require urgent attention.

He said the Transport Ministry faced practical limitations because many vehicles remained registered in the names of previous owners after informal transfers, while some scrapped or stolen vehicles had never been removed from official records.

The Finance Ministry would therefore introduce additional conditions to better reflect applicants' actual circumstances, including accepting evidence of informal vehicle transfers where appropriate.

Of the 2.9 million requests for reconsideration received so far, around 40% relate to vehicle ownership, Mr Vinit said.

The ministry will also review complaints relating to students after receiving appeals from those who said their educational status had affected their eligibility.

The revised criteria will be submitted to the state welfare for grassroots economy and society committee before being forwarded to the cabinet, with the government aiming to complete the process in time for successful applicants to begin receiving benefits from Oct 1.

Mr Vinit said this year's registration campaign had been more proactive than previous rounds, identifying 2.3 million people who had never before registered or received welfare benefits. More than 800,000 of them still require identity verification, a process being assisted by the Interior Ministry.

He added that the exercise had given the government a clearer picture of the country's poorest households, allowing authorities to classify levels of hardship and develop more targeted assistance beyond the state welfare card programme.

"Those who remain ineligible for the welfare card, estimated at around six million people, will instead be offered enrolment in the 'Thais Help Thais Plus' 60/40 co-payment scheme, with the proposal due to be submitted to the cabinet today," Mr Vinit said.

Deputy Interior Minister Polapee Suwunchwee said the Interior Ministry had worked with the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security to verify applicants' circumstances using civil registration data and field surveys to determine whether they were genuinely low-income.

"To assist unsuccessful applicants seeking a review, the ministry will establish one-stop service centres at district offices," Mr Polapee said, adding that these centres would help enable people in remote areas or those with limited access to technology to lodge appeals.

Mr Polapee said that village heads and local administrative officials will also conduct home visits for applicants unable to travel.

The information collected by the Interior Ministry will be forwarded to relevant agencies, including the Transport Ministry to verify vehicle ownership records and the Finance Ministry for a further review, he said.

The government also plans to ask the cabinet to extend the appeal deadline until Sept 20, giving applicants more time to gather supporting documents, he said.

The government also plans to revise rules affecting students, particularly those enrolled in non-formal and vocational education programmes.