National Assistance Act 1948

Welfare Services.

29Welfare arrangements for blind, deaf, dumb and crippled persons, etc.

(1)A local authority shall have power to make arrangements for promoting the welfare of persons to whom this section applies, that is to say persons who are blind, deaf or dumb, and other persons who are substantially and permanently handicapped by illness, injury, or congenital deformity or such other disabilities as may be prescribed by the Minister.

(2)In relation to persons ordinarily resident in the area of a local authority the authority shall, to such extent as the Minister may direct, be under a duty to exercise their powers under this section.

(3)The arrangements made by a local authority under this section shall be carried into effect in accordance with a scheme made thereunder.

(4)Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, arrangements may be made thereunder—

(a)for informing persons to whom arrangements under that subsection relate of the services available for them thereunder;

(b)for giving such persons instruction in their own homes or -elsewhere in methods of overcoming the effects of their disabilities;

(c)for providing workshops where such persons may be engaged (whether under a contract of service or otherwise) in suitable work, and hostels where persons engaged in the workshops, and other persons to whom arrangements under subsection (1) of this section relate and for whom work or training is being provided in pursuance of the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act, 1944, may live;

(d)for providing persons to whom arrangements under subsection (1) of this section relate with suitable work (whether under a contract of service or otherwise) in their own homes or elsewhere;

(e)for helping such persons in disposing of the produce of their work;

(f)for providing such persons with recreational facilities in their own homes or elsewhere;

(g)for compiling and maintaining classified registers of the persons to whom arrangements under subsection (1) of this section relate.

(5)A local authority may recover from persons availing themselves of any service provided under this section such charges (if any) as, having regard to the cost of the service, the authority may determine, whether generally or in the circumstances of any particular case.

(6)Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this section shall authorise or require—

(a)the payment of money to persons to whom this section applies, other than persons for whom work is provided under arrangements made by virtue of paragraph (c) or paragraph (d) of subsection (4) of this section or who are-engaged in work which they are enabled to perform in consequence of anything done in pursuance of arrangements made under this section; or

(b)the provision of any accommodation or services required to be provided under the National Health Service Act, 1946, or the National Health Service (Scotland) Act, 1947.

(7)A person engaged in work in a workshop provided under paragraph (c) of subsection (4) of this section, or a person in receipt-of a superannuation allowance granted on his retirement from engagement in any such workshop, shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to continue to be ordinarily resident in the area in which he was ordinarily resident immediately before he became engaged in the work.

30Voluntary organisations for disabled persons' welfare.

(1)A local authority may, if the scheme under the last foregoing section so provides, employ as their agent for the purposes of that section any voluntary organisation for the time being registered in accordance with this Act being an organisation having for its sole or principal object or among its principal objects the promotion of the welfare of persons to whom the last foregoing section applies.

(2)A local authority may make contributions to the funds of any such organisation as is referred to in the last foregoing subsection.

(3)Section one hundred and two of the [19 & 20 Geo. 5. c. 17.] Local Government Act, 1929, and section sixty-four of the [19 & 20 Geo. 5. c. 25.] Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1929 (which sections so far as still in force provide for the making of schemes for contribution by local authorities to voluntary associations providing services for the welfare of the blind) shall cease to have effect.

31Contributions to old people's organisations.

A local authority may make contributions to the funds of any voluntary organisation whose activities consist in or include the provision of recreation or meals for old people.