1. Reason for revision
The Act on the Use of Social Services and the Management of Vouchers has been revised (Law No. 19894; promulgated on January 2, 2024; implemented on January 3, 2025) to stipulate the prohibited acts of users of social service vouchers, such as assault, injury or sexual harassment of social service providers; to suspend or restrict the use of social service vouchers in cases where users commit prohibited acts, etc.; to have service providers request the heads of police stations to conduct a criminal history inquiry when recruiting service personnel; to require service providers to collect interest added to the amount of payments from service providers or users who have received social services by using fraudulent or unlawful means; to stipulate the matters relating to the revocation and suspension of the qualifications of service providers; and to enable the publication of details of violations committed by service providers whose administrative disposition has been finalized. In line with this revision, it aims to establish details related to the criminal background checks forms, voucher cancellation or usage restrictions, and the criteria for suspending the qualifications of service personnel, as delegated by the law. Additionally, it seeks to improve and supplement some items, such as partially easing facility standards among the registration criteria for service providers, to ensure the efficient operation and management of social service vouchers.
2. Key contents
a. The revision provides the detailed procedures and methods for restricting the use of social service vouchers due to violations of compliance or participation in fraudulent claims of benefits, etc. in relation to user compliance items, including those concerning the prohibition of assault, injury and sexual harassment against service personnel (Newly established Article 4-2 of the draft).
b. The revision provides the criteria for suspending the qualifications of service personnel so as to enable the limitation of their social service activities in the event that a service provider performs his/her duties using false or unlawful methods, causes physical or property damages to a service user, or commits an offense, such as unlawful payments of benefits (Newly established Article 16-2 of the draft).
c. The revision provides the method and procedure for publicizing the details of an offense when a provider is given an administrative disposition for unlawful payments of benefits, etc. (Newly established Article 11-2 of the draft).
