View report page

58,260 meals were served during the year 1968 to the housebound.
61,996 meals were served during the year 1969 to the housebound.
TEMPORARY ACCOMMODATION-HOMELESS FAMILIES.
Under its welfare powers the Borough is required to offer temporary accommodation
to all families who are homeless from whatever reason and support them in
practical and social work terms towards their eventual resettlement in the
community. It was the original intention of the 1948 statute to apply this
provision only to families dispossessed as a result of fire, flood, and similar
catastrophe which 'could not reasonably have been foreseen'. But the passage
of years has wrought a change. Public opinion, and government circulars, have
made it clear that when a family has nowhere to go the local authority must
provide.
In the period under review, the department has three main communal units for
families-'Ladymount', Evelyn Way, Wallington and Nos, 23 and 25 Cheam Road,
Sutton, One of the earlier residential units, 'Oakdene', in Denmark Gardens,
Carshalton disappeared under the bulldozer during the year to make way for the
further development of the site upon which it stood. There were no regrets
at its passing; the building was in poor condition and difficult to maintain
both for the local authority and families alike. Four council houses were
allocated to the department for use as long-term rehabilitation units for
families with many problems, and some 8 other properties owned by the Ministry
of Transport are now on lease to the department and used for families previously
without homes whose difficulties may take some years to settle,
WELFARE SERVICES FOR THE PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED (GENERAL CLASSES)
Local authorities are required to keep a register under Sections 29 and 30 of
the National Assistance Act of 1948, and the following statistics show the
grouping of disabilities and the register in accordance with the Medical
Research Council code of diseases and disability. The number of registrations
during the year 1968 was 221, bringing the total number of registered disabled
people to 1,023; during 1969 the number of registrations was 114, total number
of registered physically disabled people 1082,
Section 29 of the National Assistance Act, 1948 imposes a duty to provide
Welfare Services for the handicapped (general classes) and the deaf and hard
of hearing. These duties may be defined as follows:-
(a) Informing handicapped persons of the services available to them
(b) Giving instruction in their homes or elsewhere in methods of overcoming
the effects of their disabilities
(c) Providing workshops where such persons may be engaged in suitable work, and
hostels where persons engaged in the workshops may live
(d) Providing handicapped persons with suitable work in their own homes or
elsewhere
(e) Helping handicapped persons to dispose of the product of their work
(f) Providing handicapped persons with recreational facilities in their own
homes or elsewhere
(g) Compiling and maintaining registers of handicapped persons.
- -134-