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Tuesday, February 13, 1973
DISABILITY AND INFIRMITY ALLOWANCE SCHEME
Details Given Of How Scheme Will Work
People who are entitled to an allowance under the new disability
and infirmity allowance scheme will receive payments for six months at a time,
provided there are no changes in circumstances.
"In most cases, the allowance will be renewed every six months, so
that in practice it will provide a permanent source of income," Mr. T.S. Heppell,
Assistant Director (General), Social Welfare Department said today.
He was commenting on details of the scheme announced on February 1,
The scheme itself comes into operation on April 1.
The payments will be made by the Social Welfare Department. Recipients
will receive order books which are renewable every six months.
The orders can be cashed each month one at a time at the nearest Post
or Treasury office. If the recipient cannot make the journey himself, he can
send an authorised representative.
Mr. Heppell explained that there would be some circumstances in which
eligibilities for an allowance would cease, for example, where a recipient went
into residential care, or where a disabled person was no longer regarded as
severely disabled.
L
He defined the severely disabled as people who had-lost the use of
two limbs, or both hands, or all the fingers and both thumbs, or both feet, or
eyesight to such an extent as to make even unsighted work impossible.
/The definition