Carer Support
Overview
To help and support carers to take care of elderly persons at home, the community care and support service units subsidised by SWD including District Elderly Community Centre, Neighbourhood Elderly Centre, Day Care Centre/ Unit for the Elderly, Home-based Community Care for the Elderly, Community Care Service Voucher for the Elderly, provide various kinds of carer support service. To enhance support for carers, SWD will roll out a number of measures from 2023, including setting up a Designated Carer Hotline and Information Gateway for Carers, regularising the "Pilot Scheme on Living Allowance for Carers of Elderly Persons from Low-income Families", launching a three-year Territory-Wide Publicity Campaign and "Support for Carers Project".
Designated Hotline for Carer Support 182 183
The 24-hour Designated Hotline for Carer Support 182 183 is manned by professional social workers, providing up-to-date information on community support resources, instant consultation and counselling, outreaching, emergency support and referral services etc. For details, please click here.
Information Gateway for Carers
The Information Gateway for Carers aims to raise awareness of carers about the available resources and to encourage them to seek help whenever needed. It covers information on services provided for elderly persons and persons with disabilities, caring skills, community activities and resources for carers, etc. For details, please click here.
Living Allowance for Carers of Elderly Persons from Low-income Families
The Community Care Fund launched the "Pilot Scheme on Living Allowance for Carers of Elderly Persons from Low-income Families" (The Pilot Scheme) in June 2014 with the aim of providing carers of elderly persons from low-income families with a living allowance to help supplement their living expenses so that elderly persons in need of long-term care services may, under the help of their carers, receive proper care and remain ageing in the community. The Pilot Scheme is incorporated into the Government regular assistance programme and renamed as the "Scheme on Living Allowance for Carers of Elderly Persons from Low-income Families" (Allowance for Carers of the Elderly) with effect from October 2023. The monthly allowance will be increased from $2,400 to $3,000. For details, please click here.
Launching the Territory-Wide Publicity Campaign
To raise public awareness of the importance and needs of carers, promote mutual assistance in the community and cultivate a carer-friendly environment, SWD has launched a three-year territory-wide publicity campaign, namely "Care the Carers Campaign", from 2023-24. The campaign includes production of Television and Radio Announcements in the Public Interest, production of publicity materials, organising signature events and putting advertisements on public transports, etc. District Social Welfare Offices of SWD will take account of district characteristics and collaborate with NGOs providing elderly and rehabilitation services and local organisations to organise carer-centric programmes and public education activities to jointly promote carer support and offer practical assistance to carers.
| Item/ Name | Image/ Link/ Download File |
|---|---|
| Poster |  |
| TV Announcements in the Public Interest | Link |
| TV Announcements in the Public Interest (Web accessible version) | Link |
| Video on Introduction to the Campaign (Chinese Version Only) | Link |
| "Care the Carers Campaign" Kick-off Ceremony Highlight Video | Link |
| Video on the story of an elderly carer (Chinese Version Only) | Link |
“Care the Carers Campaign” 2024-25 Short Video Competition
The theme of “Care the Carers Campaign” Short Video Competition is Walk with Carers, with the objectives to promote family-based support and mutual assistance among peer carers across their life span and at different stages of their caregiving journey, and to recognise carers’ contributions. For details, please click here.
Support for Carers Project
Since October 2018, SWD launched the "Support for Carers Project" which aims to provide basic training to frontline property management personnel, so as to equip them with knowledge on how to identify and assist needy elderly persons and carers, and provide them with information on welfare services in the community, so that they may make use of the community resources when necessary to support ageing in place for elderly persons. SWD will extend the Project for three years starting from October 2023 and expand its scope to cover persons with disabilities.
| Item/ Name | Link |
|---|---|
| Video on Introduction to the Project (Chinese Version Only) | Link |
| Video on the story of a property management personnel (Chinese Version Only) | Link |
Services Supporting the Carers Leaflet
Additional information of Services Supporting the Carers can be downloaded here:
