Vol. 543 No. 3
56 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs his proposals in relation to complaints that some residents in nursing homes are not permitted to retain disability allowance and other benefits from his Department. [26851/01]
One of the conditions applying to the former disabled person's maintenance allowance or disabled person's maintenance allowance scheme was that the payment was not made to people who were in residential care or in hospital. People in this situation had their maintenance costs and an element of pocket money met through funding from the appropriate health board. However, since the takeover of the disability allowance scheme by my Department this disqualification has been progressively relaxed, as follows: from October 1996 disability allowance is continued for up to 13 weeks where the person is admitted to hospital for treatment; with effect from June 1997 disability allowance is paid at half-rate for those in part-time residential care. In addition, people who come home for an extended holiday period of three weeks or more can qualify for allowance for that period; since August 1999 existing recipients of disability allowance who are living at home can retain their entitlement where they subsequently go into hospital or residential care; from May 2000 people in part-time residential care who had been entitled to half-rate disability allowance since June 1997 became entitled to payment at the full rate.
In addition, people living in community-based residences are eligible to receive disability allowance provided the relevant health board is not providing funding towards their maintenance. These improvements now mean that many of those who had previously been disqualified for payment under the disabled person's maintenance allowance scheme because they were in residential care are now entitled to payment under the scheme. Nevertheless, based on the limited data available it is estimated there are still in the region of 4,000 to 5,000 people with disabilities in residential care who are not entitled to disability allowance. The cost of abolishing the residency rule for this group is estimated to be approximately £25 million or 32 million per annum. Despite the recent improvements, it is recognised that more needs to be done. The potential for further improvements in this area is being examined in a budgetary context in the light of the available resources and having regard to the Government's other priorities.
Question No. 57 answered with Question No. 42.
Question No. 58 answered with Question No. 30.
