Ms Cassandra Lee asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) in the past two years, how many requests has the Ministry received for Social Service Offices (SSO) officers to conduct home visits for applicants with health or mobility issues; (b) whether such home visits include SSO officers assisting with applications and renewals; and (c) what is the average wait time before home visits are conducted.
Answer
1 Individuals and families who require financial assistance can apply for ComCare Short-to-Medium-Term Assistance via the SupportGoWhere portal. Applicants who need help with their online application can call our hotline, where our call agents will walk them through the application process. For applicants who are home-bound and unable to apply online, the SSOs will arrange for home visits.
2 The SSO will contact the applicant within 3 working days to arrange for the home visit. Where there is an urgent need for a home visit, the SSO will make appropriate arrangements.
3 MSF does not track the number of requests received by the SSOs for home visits.