Budget 2024: Increased welfare assistance to disabled and elderly announced

Senior citizens who employ a carer of their choice to assist them in their daily needs, can now claim €8,000 per year to do so, up by €1,000 from last year.

The increase to the Carer at Home scheme is one of several budget measures announced by finance minister Clyde Caruana tonight that raise welfare benefits.

Other measures aimed at easing the financial burden borne by persons who care for someone with a disability include an augmentation to the Increased Carers’ Allowance, bringing it up to €173.78 per week, while the Carers Allowance will also go up to €120.68 per week, in line with COLA.

2024 will see the start of the Bormla residential care home project, and construction works on the Msida care home, amongst sundry works on existing projects and the completion of a multidisciplinary clinic for the elderly at Floriana and Dar San Ġuzepp in Għajnsielem, Gozo.

A law establishing the Standards Authority for the Elderly is planned to enter into force in 2024.

The St. Vincent de Paul care home will undergo extensive refurbishment and the construction of a new pharmacy block, together with further investment in medical equipment. Caruana announced that new clinics at SVPR and in the community are to be set up, as well as a €700,000 Therapeutic Petting Farm and Recreation Centre.

The electoral promise to introduce the concept of partial invalidity for individuals who are unable to work for medical reasons, but are expected to return to the workforce in future is to be fulfilled by increasing sickness benefits for persons who have been unable to work for over six months, to rates equal to a disability pension.

The Carers’ Grant afforded to parents who forgo employment to care for severely disabled children are entitled to half minimum wage and will therefore benefit from the increase in the minimum wage, up by €487 and now approaching the annual figure of €5,000. Likewise, disability pensions, which are equal to the net minimum wage, are to benefit from COLA, increasing by €17.39 per week.

The government will be investing €5.2 million, up by €1 million from last year, in inclusion and reforms aimed at assisting disabled people and their families.

An interprofessional medical board to assess disability claims is to be created and start operating next year, assessing claims against international standards established by the WHO.