Mr. Speaker,
This morning, I rise before this Honourable House to lay for information the Financial Assistance Amendment Regulations 2024. The Amendment to the Financial Assistance Regulations 2004 added an expenditure line item for a $100 Personal Care Allowance in the Table of Allowable Expenses.
Mr. Speaker,
I remind members of this House of the significant investment that was made for the provision of expanded social services for the 2024/25 financial year, as part of the Government’s mid-year review in September 2024. This included funding for a monthly personal care allowance for Financial Assistance clients in rest and nursing homes.
Mr. Speaker,
Many financial assistance clients who reside in rest and nursing homes including those without critical family support, already have the high expense of rest and nursing home fees ranging from $5,000 to $12,000, and, cannot support their basic hygiene needs and purchase the personal care products and services that you and I, and my Honourable colleagues in this House tend to take for granted. Several residents have expressed their concerns about this and having no money to purchase such items.
Let me add, Mr. Speaker,
Administrators at the rest and nursing homes have shared that they do not have the funds to purchase personal care products and services for residents. Consequently, some families provide personal care products and services for their loved ones, some do not, and those residents with no family support tend to go without these basic personal care items.
Mr. Speaker,
The Department of Financial Assistance was given a supplementary of $911,000 that was approved by this House in October 2024, to provide a monthly Personal Care Allowance of $100 to all Financial Assistance clients who reside in rest homes and nursing homes. The monthly allowance will allow for the purchase of personal care and health care goods and services, such as toiletries and grooming services.
Mr. Speaker,
Commencing in November 2024, the Department worked assiduously with the Ministry of Justice as an amendment was needed to legislation that is, the Financial Assistance Regulations 2004, to add an expenditure line item for Personal Care Allowance in the Table of Allowable Expenses to legally facilitate the $100 Personal Care Allowance. The amendment to the legislation was completed and gazetted in December 2024 and became effective on February 1st 2025.
Mr. Speaker,
The Department of Financial Assistance has established a framework to ensure that all financial assistance clients in licensed rest and nursing homes receive a monthly personal care allowance of $100. This includes direct deposit into their client’s bank account for access by the client or those deemed to be carers of their clients, or via their respective rest and nursing home.
Mr. Speaker,
Currently, 240 FA clients will receive the $100 personal care allowance, of which 220 clients are pensioners and 20 clients are persons with a disability. In preparation to execute the payment to the 240 clients, the Financial Assistance Software System had to be adjusted to include a line item for the personal care allowance. Additionally, the Department of Financial Assistance had to make sure every client had a valid bank account in the System. This has been a tedious exercise as accuracy is important for ensuring that the right information is in the System, particularly in those instances where changes were needed to bank accounts or new bank accounts were added.
Mr. Speaker,
For those clients who will be paid their $100 personal care allowance via the rest or the nursing homes, the Department has visited with all the licensed facilities to discuss how this could be processed. An agreement was reached that a Memorandum of Understanding would be established stating that the $100 will be used to purchase personal care items and other sundry items on behalf of the FA clients. These logistics should be all finalized by the end of April.
Mr. Speaker,
I am pleased to report that the first payout of the $100 personal care allowance to FA clients residing in licensed rest and nursing homes will occur in May 2025.
With that, Mr. Speaker,
I now table for the information of the House, the Financial Assistance Amendment Regulations 2024.
Thank You, Mr. Speaker