Those who feel they require Financial Assistance can now be assessed separately and independently from the rest of their household, Government announced yesterday.

Speaking during the Budget debate on the Department of Financial Assistance, Acting Health Minister Terry Lister added the Department has been criticised on two fronts ? firstly, for giving money to those who do not qualify for help; and secondly, for giving insufficient help to those who need it. New regulations enacted in July of last year along with total household income as a barometer should ?greatly increase or eliminate these criticisms?, he said. Aside from allowing those in need to be assessed independently of their households, the new regulations also stipulate that any property conveyed within a five year timeframe prior to the application for assistance cannot be entertained. That regulation will hopefully prevent the trend of seniors conveying property to relatives, who then take control of the property, forcing the senior to go on Financial Assistance, Mr. Lister said. Housing allowance will cease after June 20 after the Housing Allowance Programme was amalgamated into Financial Assistance, Mr. Lister said. Anyone in need of a rent subsidy post July 1, 2004, applied via the new financial assistance scheme. The average household subsidy, he added, has decreased over the past year. However Opposition MP Suzann Roberts-Holshouser voiced concern about that programme, noting that funding at the relevant area of Financial Assistance should have increase by the $600,000 previously allotted to the Housing Programme ? yet it had only increased by just over $100,000. While praising several new Department initiatives, Opposition MP Louise Jackson voiced concerns that the closure of Trimingham?s and the rent increases at the Bermuda Housing Trust may caused an unforeseen drain on the Department?s resources. Mrs. Roberts-Holshouser also noted that the need for a staff increase within the Department, saying that seven caseworkers with an average of 107 clients each was an ?abysmal? statistic.

Shadow Health Minister Michael Dunkley questioned the need for such a large sum of money ? more than $700,000 ? to be given to parish councils. Noting the total given since 1998 is around $8 million, he said that the main function of the parish councils is to run the rest homes ? ?and as only two are open right now, I don?t know what the other seven are doing?. He called on Government to cease funding to parish councils.