The digital transformation also passes through the Ministry of Labour, whose jurisdiction includes a number of allowances, sponsorships and special aids. All this will now operate in electronic form, with the aim of facilitating a large portion of the population.
Now, many beneficiaries do not have the time or even the opportunity to go to the local offices of the Ministry and, therefore, applications will be able to be submitted electronically. Of course, another important reason in this direction concerns the reduction of bureaucracy in the public sector.
In particular, in the note of the Minister of Labour Marinos Mousiouttas, which was prepared on the occasion of the presentation and discussion in Parliament of the Ministry's budget for 2027, as well as the Medium-Term Financial Framework 2027 – 2029, it refers, among other things, to the path towards the digital transformation of Social Security Services.
In this context, they now operate electronically:
-the Childbirth Allowance,
-Maternity, Paternity and Parental Leave Allowances,
-the Funeral Aid,
-the Support Plan for New Mothers and,
-for the first time, applications for Widow's Pension, Disability Pension, Disability Allowance and Special Benefit for Persons with Thalassaemia,
while the User Profile of the insured was created.
In addition to the above, according to the Ministry's note, for 2027, the announcement of the new Integrated Information System of the Department of Labor Inspection for the automation of processes and the provision of electronic services to citizens and businesses, as well as the supervision of offshore oil and gas operations, in view of the transition to production in the Cypriot EEZ, is a priority.
As it is understood, the path to digital transformation is not a one-dimensional approach. What does this mean? That it is not enough to modernize the machinery, but the simultaneous upgrading of the skills of the workers, but also of the unemployed who will be called upon at some stage to reintegrate into the labour market.
Along with all this, it is necessary to boost productivity.
Within this framework, the Productivity Center will continue in 2027 to provide technical, vocational and socially targeted training, with the aim of participating at least 3,000 adults in digital and green skills, technical vocational training and financial literacy programs, while in 2026, among others, 155 digital skills programs with 1,850 participants will be completed.
As the Ministry of Labour informs in its relevant note, in February 2027 the new cycles of the postgraduate programs of the Mediterranean Institute of Management will begin, while the National Skills Team will represent Cyprus in the EuroSkills 2027 European Competition. In addition, through the Human Resource Development Authority (HRDA), 104,600 participations in training programs were recorded by the end of October.
In addition, 817 self-employed persons were registered in the "Hermes" system, with 758 participations in training programs.
