asked the Minister for Health the reason adult handicapped persons who are in residential care, who would otherwise be in receipt of a disabled person's maintenance allowance, do not get an equivalent weekly allowance for periods of temporary stay at home and get the benefit of free travel which would go with disabled person's maintenance allowance.
Written Answers. - Disabled Person's Maintenance Allowance.
219.
Disabled persons who are in residential care for longer than eight weeks are not eligible for disabled persons maintenance allowance or free travel. Persons on DPMA are expected to maintain themselves whereas those who are eligible for DPMA when they are in residential care are maintained free of charge. Grants and allowances to institutions providing such care are paid on an annual basis and it would not be desirable or practicable to adjust the pattern of these payments in an unstructured way in order to allow temporary payments of DPMA in individual cases. Health boards may be able to give financial assistance where difficulties arise in meeting costs involved in temporary stays at home.