Thursday, June 22, 1972
INCENTIVE PAYMENTS INCREASED
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A number of disabled people presently looked after by the
Social Welfare Department in its sheltered workshops are to receive an
increase in "incentive" payments from $1.50 to $2.50 a day.
The increase, benefitting about 260 people, will be back dated
'to April 1, this year.
"Incentive" payments are intended to encourage the, disabled
to earn a living by their own effort in the sheltered workshops, instead
bf relying entirely on public assistance or resorting to begging,
In presenting his case to the Finance Committee of the Legislative
Council for an increase in payments, the Director of Social Welfare
said the $1.50 daily rate had proved insufficient as an incentive
because the actual attendance at the sheltered workshops was only 260
as against the capacity of 325.
Of those who attend the workshops, the majority earn an
average of $50 a month excluding incentive payments, or $90 including
incentive payments. The increase enables them to earn about $115 a month.
The additional expenditure arising from the increase is about
$97,500 a year if the sheltered workshops are full, or about $78.000
on the basis of the present attendance.
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