The Parliamentary Secretary for the Elderly yesterday launched a pilot project that will finance live-in carers for the elderly.

Parliamentary Secretary Justyne Caruana said this was a Budgetary measure designed to provide assistance to those elderly who wanted to carry on living in their own homes.

People applying for the benefit must be over 60 and must have applied to be accepted at any of the government’s homes for the elderly prior to the Budget speech last October.

The budget for the project is €1 million.

Application forms may be downloaded from activeageing.gov.mt.

Dr Caruana said the year-long project would enable the government to decide on and plan future projects.

The project, she added, was one of a number of initiatives that allowed the elderly to live in the comfort of their own homes, another being the meals on wheels service.