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The following is issued on behalf of the Community Care Fund Secretariat:
The Community Care Fund (CCF) today (June 30) rolled out the Pilot Scheme on Living Allowance for Carers of the Elderly Persons from Low Income Families aiming to benefit a total of 2 000 eligible carers.
The two-year Scheme, administered by the Social Welfare Department (SWD), aims at providing carers of elderly persons from low-income families with a living allowance to help supplement their living expenses so that elderly persons in need of long-term care services can, under the help of their carers, receive proper care and to enable them to remain in the community.
The SWD will issue letters in phases, according to the dates of application by the elderly persons for subsidised long-term care services on the Central Waiting List (CWL), and invite their respective carers to participate in the Scheme. During the first phase, carers meeting all the following criteria will be eligible for the allowance:
* the elderly person(s) being taken care of should live in Hong Kong and be assessed under the Standardised Care Need Assessment Mechanism for Elderly Services to have impairment at moderate or severe level, and has/have been on the CWL for subsidised long-term care services (i.e. residential care services and/or community care services) since December 31, 2010, or before;
* the elderly person(s) being taken care of is/are not using any residential care service at the time of application and throughout their participation in the Scheme;
* the carer is capable of taking up the caregiving role, and is required to provide at least 80 hours of caregiving per month (or not less than 120 hours per month for taking care of more than one elderly person, with the second elderly person also meeting the aforementioned requirements while being on the CWL for subsidised long-term care services on or before the date of the roll-out of the Scheme);
* the carer is a Hong Kong resident not engaging in any form of employment relationship with the elderly person(s) whom he/she is taking care of;
* the carer is not receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance or Old Age Living Allowance; and
* the carer is having a monthly household income not exceeding 75 per cent of the relevant Median Monthly Domestic Household Income without counting the assets.
A monthly allowance of $2,000 will be disbursed to an eligible carer, and a maximum of $4,000 per month will be disbursed to those carers who take care of more than one elderly person as mentioned above. The allowance for a successful applicant will not last for more than 24 months.
The SWD will issue letters to the elderly persons on the CWL, and invite applications from their carers who may be eligible for the Scheme. Applicants are required to submit the completed application forms together with all necessary documents by post or by hand to the CCF Team of the SWD on or before August 30. Upon completion of the vetting, applicants will be informed of the application result by post. The approved service providers of the Scheme will approach the eligible carers and the elderly persons concerned to provide carer support services and follow-up on the arrangement for disbursement of the allowance. It is expected that eligible carers will receive the allowance starting from September at the earliest.
For details of the Scheme, please visit the CCF website (www.communitycarefund.hk) or the SWD website (www.swd.gov.hk). For enquiries, please call the CCF Team of the SWD at 3422 3090 during office hours.
Ends/Monday, June 30, 2014
Issued at HKT 15:01
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