The following is issued on behalf of the Community Care Fund Secretariat:
The Community Care Fund (CCF) announced today (November 30) the extension of the Special Care Subsidy for the Severely Disabled Programme to provide persons with severe disabilities who meet the eligibility criteria with a subsidy for a maximum of 24 months. The programme is administered by the Social Welfare Department (SWD).
The programme was rolled out in September 2011, and was extended in November 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively. It aims at providing a special care subsidy for severely disabled persons who are living in the community and not receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance. Beneficiaries under this extended programme should meet the following criteria:
- Aged below 60 and receiving Higher Disability Allowance (HDA) under the Social Security Allowance Scheme as at July 31, 2018; and
- Living in the community and having a monthly household income not exceeding 150 per cent of the relevant Median Monthly Domestic Household Income (MMDHI).
The rate of subsidy an eligible person is entitled to for the whole period will be calculated based on his or her average monthly household income for the three months immediately preceding the submission of application. There are three levels of subsidy, i.e. those with household income at or less than 100 per cent of the MMDHI to receive a full grant of the subsidy ($2,000 per month); those with household income from more than 100 per cent to 125 per cent of the MMDHI to receive three-quarters of the subsidy ($1,500 per month); and those with household income from more than 125 per cent to 150 per cent of the MMDHI to receive a half grant of the subsidy ($1,000 per month).
Starting from today, the SWD will issue letters to relevant HDA recipients to set out details of arrangements of the programme and invite applications from those who may fulfil the eligibility criteria. 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 February 28, 2019. Notification of application results will be issued to the applicants and the subsidy is expected to be disbursed to eligible persons starting from the end of February 2019. Existing beneficiaries under the programme are not required to submit new applications, and the SWD will separately inform them of the necessary arrangements in writing.
Details of the programme can be found on the CCF website (www.communitycarefund.hk) or SWD website (www.swd.gov.hk). For enquiries, members of the public may call the CCF Team of SWD on 3422 3090 during office hours.
Follow this news feed: East Asia