Community Care Fund rolls out pilot schemes to support elderly persons with mild impairment and beneficiaries of Community Housing Movement
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The Community Care Fund (CCF) rolled out two pilot schemes, namely the Pilot Scheme on Home Care and Support for Elderly Persons with Mild Impairment and the Pilot Scheme on Relocation Allowance for Beneficiaries of the Community Housing Movement today (December 28).
The two pilot schemes are administered by the Social Welfare Department (SWD). Details of the schemes are as follows:
(1) Pilot Scheme on Home Care and Support for Elderly Persons with Mild Impairment
This three-year pilot scheme, to be implemented from December 2017 until the end of November 2020, aims to provide home care and support services for low-income elderly persons with mild impairment.
The Pilot Scheme will adopt five co-payment categories on a sliding scale, and eligible elderly persons are required to co-pay an amount of the service value. The SWD will determine the amount of co-payment according to the monthly household income of the elderly persons, with the co-payment percentages ranging from the lowest at zero per cent (for home services) to the highest at 45 per cent (for meal services). After co-payment, all remaining service value will be paid by the CCF such that the less an elderly person can afford, the more subsidy he/she receives from the CCF. Additionally, elderly persons may choose to receive services on the basis of each meal or service hour according to their individual needs. The Pilot Scheme is expected to provide 4 000 service places.
Beneficiaries shall meet the following criteria:
- aged 60 or above;
- living in the community;
- assessed to be of mild impairment by the designated assessment tool;
- waitlisting for the Integrated Home Care Services (Ordinary Cases) [IHCS(OC)]; and
- monthly household income must not be higher than a specified percentage of the Median Monthly Domestic Household Income (i.e. not exceeding 175 per cent for one-person households; not exceeding 150 per cent for two-or-more-person households).
Assessor training courses will be conducted in the first phase of the Pilot Scheme. Those elderly persons waitlisted for IHCS(OC) will be invited to join the Pilot Scheme. IHCS/Home Help Teams (the service teams) participating in the Pilot Scheme will introduce the services of the Pilot Scheme and conduct assessment of elderly persons who are interested in joining. They will also help eligible elderly persons submit the completed application forms together with copies of their documents of identity by post or by hand to the CCF Team of the SWD for conducting means tests. It is expected that eligible elderly persons may receive the services from January 2018 at the earliest. Elderly persons interested in joining the Pilot Scheme may approach the respective service teams for enquiries.
(2) Pilot Scheme on Relocation Allowance for Beneficiaries of the Community Housing Movement
This three-year pilot scheme, which will last from December 28, 2017 until December 27, 2020, aims to provide subsidy for low-income households under the Community Housing Movement (CHM) run by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service to pay for removal expenses.
Under the Pilot Scheme, the SWD will provide one-off relocation allowance to an eligible household according to the size of the household. The rates of allowance are set at $3,076 for one-person households, $7,028 for two-to-three-person households and $9,263 for four-or-more-person households. The Pilot Scheme is expected to benefit about 1 000 households.
Beneficiaries shall meet the following criteria:
- must be the beneficiaries of the CHM; and
- the monthly household income must not exceed the income limit for public rental housing applications under the Hong Kong Housing Authority.
Applicants may obtain the application form through the service operators of the CHM in the course of the Pilot Scheme, and submit the completed application form together with all necessary documents by post or by hand to the CCF Team of the SWD within three months from the effective date as stated in the tenancy agreement/contract under the CHM. Upon completion of the vetting, the SWD will notify the applicants of the application result in writing and deposit the allowance in eligible applicants' authorised bank accounts.
Details of the above two pilot schemes can be found on the CCF website (www.communitycarefund.hk) or the SWD website (www.swd.gov.hk). For enquiries, members of the public may call the CCF Team of the SWD on 3422 3090 during office hours.
Ends/Thursday, December 28, 2017
Issued at HKT 12:00
Issued at HKT 12:00
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