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The following is issued on behalf of the Community Care Fund Secretariat:
The Community Care Fund (CCF) today (June 1) announced the rollout of Phase II of the Pilot Scheme on Living Allowance for Carers of Elderly Persons from Low Income Families (the Pilot Scheme) in October 2016, and the extension of Phase I of the Pilot Scheme for four months up to end-September this year. The Pilot Scheme 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, with the help of their carers, receive proper care and remain ageing in the community.
The two-year Pilot Scheme Phase II will benefit an additional 2 000 eligible carers, making a total of 4 000 beneficiaries for the two phases of the Pilot Scheme, and will continue to be administered by the Social Welfare Department (SWD). Carers meeting all of the following circumstances/criteria will be eligible for the allowance:
* the elderly person(s) being taken care of must be living in Hong Kong, has/have been assessed under the SWD's Standardised Care Need Assessment Mechanism for Elderly Services to be of moderate or severe level of impairment, and has/have been on the Central Waiting List (CWL) for subsidised long-term care services (i.e. residential care services and/or community care services) on or before February 29, 2016;
* the elderly person(s) being taken care of must be living in the community without using any residential care service or undergoing long-term hospitalisation during the application period and while receiving the allowance;
* the carer must be capable of taking up the care-giving role, and is required to provide at least 80 hours of care-giving work per month (or not less than 120 hours per month for taking care of more than one elderly person who meets the above-mentioned criteria);
* the carer must be a Hong Kong resident living in Hong Kong and not engaged in any form of employment relationship with the elderly person(s) under his/her care;
* the carer must not be a recipient of the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance or Old Age Living Allowance; and
* the monthly household income of the carer must not exceed 75 per cent of the relevant Median Monthly Domestic Household Income, excluding assets.
Under Phase II of the Pilot Scheme, a monthly allowance of $2,000 will be disbursed to each 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 at the same time. The subsidy period will start from October 2016 at the earliest and end in September 2018 at the latest. The subsidy period for the eligible carers under Phase I will be extended to September 2016 and they may also apply for the allowance of Phase II.
Starting from today, the SWD will issue letters to the elderly persons concerned on the CWL for inviting their carers to apply for the allowance if the eligibility criteria can be met. 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 31, 2016. Upon completion of the vetting, the SWD will notify the applicants of the application results in writing. Approved service providers, which are responsible for providing support services, will also approach the carers and elderly persons concerned to arrange support services and follow-up on the payment arrangement for the allowance. Existing beneficiaries under Phase I are not required to submit new applications. The SWD will separately notify them of the arrangements in writing.
For details of Phase II of the Pilot Scheme, please visit the CCF website (www.communitycarefund.hk) or the SWD website (www.swd.gov.hk). For enquiries, please call SWD's CCF Team on 3422 3090 during office hours.
Ends/Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Issued at HKT 15:01
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