The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued a notice on doing a good job in centralized care services for economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people, focusing on implementing the national strategy of actively responding to population aging, strengthening the effective connection between service based social assistance and elderly welfare, promoting the policy of centralized care services to benefit economically disadvantaged elderly people more fairly, and building a sustainable and scalable centralized care service model and guarantee mechanism for economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people, making arrangements for doing a good job in centralized care services for economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people.

The full text is as follows:

Notice of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Finance on Doing a Good Job in Centralized Care Services for Economically Difficult and Disabled Elderly People and Other Groups: Civil Affairs Departments (Bureaus) and Finance Departments (Bureaus) of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, Civil Affairs Bureaus and Finance Bureaus of each separately planned city, and Civil Affairs Bureaus and Finance Bureaus of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:

In order to implement the national strategy of actively responding to population aging, strengthen the effective connection between service-oriented social assistance and elderly welfare, promote the policy of centralized care services to benefit economically disadvantaged elderly people more fairly, and build a sustainable and scalable centralized care service model and guarantee mechanism for economically disadvantaged disabled elderly people and other groups, the following notice is hereby issued to do a good job in central financial support for centralized care services for economically disadvantaged disabled elderly people and other groups:

1、 Overall requirements

Adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, deeply implement the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping on civil affairs work, comprehensively implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee on actively responding to the national strategy of aging population and improving the hierarchical and classified social assistance system, adhere to the people-centered approach, focus on ensuring basic needs, preventing risks, and promoting development, and effectively meet the centralized care service needs of economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people and other groups; Adhere to doing our best and acting within our capabilities, give full play to the guiding and motivating role of central financial funds, support local innovation of institutional mechanisms according to local conditions, strengthen the construction of basic elderly care service systems, and effectively improve the capacity and level of social assistance in the service sector; Adhere to overall planning and consideration, include centralized care services for economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people in the list of social assistance services, strengthen policy and resource integration, and continuously enhance the sense of achievement, happiness, and security of disadvantaged groups.

2、 Job responsibilities

The central government supports centralized care services for economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people, mainly through the central government's assistance and subsidy funds for disadvantaged groups. Subsidies are provided to economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people who live in nursing homes, and appropriate subsidies are given to nursing homes that accommodate economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people based on performance evaluation results. （1） Clearly define the scope of centralized care service recipients. The economically disadvantaged disabled elderly and other groups referred to in this notice mainly include disabled elderly who are included in the scope of minimum living security and voluntarily reside in elderly care institutions (assessed as moderately disabled, severely disabled, or completely disabled) and elderly people (aged 80 years and above). Individuals who have already paid for basic nursing services through the fund in areas implementing long-term care insurance policies are not included in the scope of assistance. （2） Reasonably determine the standards for centralized care services and subsidy standards. Each region should reasonably determine the centralized care service standards and subsidy standards for economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people and other groups in accordance with the overall requirements of the hierarchical classification social assistance system. In principle, the standard for centralized care services for economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people and other groups shall not exceed the total amount of the basic living standards and comprehensive care standards for local extremely poor individuals. The subsidy standards for economically disadvantaged elderly people who reside in elderly care institutions are determined based on the difference between the centralized care service standards and the local minimum living security standards, and the corresponding deductions for elderly care subsidies, elderly care service subsidies, and disability "two subsidies" for economically disadvantaged disabled elderly people and other groups. （3） Improve workflow. Economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people can choose to stay in elderly care institutions according to their own situation and personal wishes, and apply for centralized care service subsidies from the local county-level civil affairs department. For those who need to undergo disability level assessment, the county-level civil affairs department should organize the assessment in accordance with the "Norms for the Assessment of Elderly People's Abilities" (GB/T 42195-2022). After staying in a nursing home for at least 30 days, economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people can submit materials such as a nursing service agreement and valid payment vouchers (or proof of institutional agreement to defer payment) to the county-level civil affairs department. After verification, if the conditions are met, the county-level civil affairs department will make a decision to issue subsidies. The subsidy is calculated from the month when economically disadvantaged elderly people move into nursing homes and is paid monthly to their own accounts starting from the following month. If the elderly with financial difficulties and disability and other groups no longer meet the conditions for subsidies due to changes in their physical conditions, the elderly and their pension institutions shall timely inform the civil affairs department at the county level. County level civil affairs departments should organize evaluations and make timely decisions to suspend subsidies for those who do not meet the subsidy conditions. If elderly people no longer meet the minimum living security requirements due to changes in their economic situation, the county-level civil affairs department shall promptly make a decision to suspend the payment of subsidies and inform the elderly care institution where they are located. For elderly people who are in the gradual retirement period of minimum living security, subsidies should continue to be provided until the end of the retirement period. （4） Strengthen the management of elderly care institutions. Elderly care institutions that accommodate economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people should meet the mandatory standards of the Basic Norms for Service Safety of Elderly Care Institutions and have service conditions for accommodating moderately disabled and above elderly people. It is not allowed to adopt practices such as separate cooking and isolation zones to treat economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people differently. Elderly care institutions that also accommodate extremely impoverished support personnel shall not lower the level and quality of their support services. Elderly care institutions should promptly record the occupancy and service situation of economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people and other groups into the national elderly care service information system, and push it to the low-income population dynamic monitoring information platform through the system. Local civil affairs departments should proactively publicize relevant information on eligible elderly care institutions in their respective regions, and assist groups such as economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people who are willing to choose suitable elderly care institutions. County level civil affairs departments should regularly conduct performance evaluations of elderly care institutions that accommodate economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people. The evaluation indicators include but are not limited to the number of recipients and their satisfaction. Each region can provide performance subsidies to elderly care institutions based on performance evaluation results, and the total amount of performance subsidies shall not exceed 30% of the actual centralized care subsidies provided to economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people in the local area.

3、 Job requirements

（1） Strengthen organizational leadership. Provincial civil affairs and finance departments should fulfill their leading responsibilities, formulate measures for fund allocation, use, and management according to local conditions, refine business processes, responsibilities, and work standards, and establish incentive and restraint mechanisms for relevant elderly care institutions. Provincial civil affairs departments shall conduct random inspections on the identification of centralized care service recipients and the quality of elderly care institution services carried out by county-level civil affairs departments every year according to a certain proportion. Civil affairs departments at all levels should strengthen the coordination, data sharing, and policy linkage between social assistance and elderly care services, and promote the development of service-oriented social assistance in an orderly manner. Among them, the functional departments of elderly care services should do a good job in the qualification review of centralized care service recipients, strengthen the supervision and management of elderly care institutions, organize the assessment of elderly people's abilities, guide elderly care institutions to provide centralized care services, and track and monitor the quality and effectiveness of elderly care institution services; The social assistance functional departments should do a good job in the review and recognition of minimum living allowances, and at the same time, work together with the elderly care service functional departments to determine the scope, recognition conditions, and service standards of centralized care services for economically disadvantaged elderly people. The civil affairs department should cooperate with the finance department to ensure the allocation, payment, and supervision of subsidies for centralized care service recipients, as well as the distribution of performance subsidies for elderly care institutions. Local civil affairs departments should rely on the low-income population dynamic monitoring information platform and the elderly care service information platform to share data, integrate resources, strengthen collaboration, empower grassroots, carry out convenient services such as entrusted agency and online application review, and achieve digital empowerment convenience, precise supply-demand matching, and intelligent service supervision. （2） Strengthen institutional linkage. Various regions should include centralized care services for economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people and other groups in the list of social assistance services, coordinate and effectively connect with social assistance such as minimum living guarantee, assistance and support for extremely poor people, basic elderly care services, social welfare policies, as well as social insurance systems such as medical insurance and long-term care insurance, to avoid resource mismatch and repeated waste. Special hardship support service institutions should prioritize meeting the centralized support needs of special hardship personnel and provide centralized care services for economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people and other groups. （3） Strengthen financial support. When allocating this fund, the central government adopts the factor method, mainly considering demand factors and financial factors. The Ministry of Finance, together with the Ministry of Civil Affairs, implements full process performance management of funds and regularly organizes performance evaluation and assessment. For provinces with significant work results, high satisfaction with service recipients, outstanding achievements in institutional mechanism construction, and good social response, appropriate incentives will be given in the next year's fund allocation; For provinces where work progress is slow, there are many problems reported by service recipients, the efficiency of fund utilization is not high, and there are problems with the authenticity and accuracy of evaluation indicator data, the funds for the next year will be deducted as appropriate. （4） Strict supervision and management. The central government subsidy funds are included in the unified supervision and separate account management of the assistance subsidy funds for disadvantaged groups. Provincial civil affairs and finance departments carry out full process supervision and performance evaluation of implementation goals, support objects, fund use, information disclosure, etc., regularly conduct inspections, and ensure standardized and efficient fund management and use. Local civil affairs and finance departments at all levels should attach great importance to fund security, strictly abide by financial discipline, ensure the authenticity of original vouchers, standardized approval procedures, and compliance with fund payments, and shall not make early or excessive payments. County level civil affairs departments should publicize the centralized care service recipients in an appropriate manner within a certain scope, and establish a central financial support mechanism for reporting and rewarding problems in centralized care services for economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people and other groups in accordance with regulations, and strengthen social supervision. If any violations of financial discipline such as embezzlement, misappropriation, interception or retention of financial funds are found, as well as illegal and irregular behaviors such as abuse of power, dereliction of duty, and favoritism, corresponding responsibilities will be pursued in accordance with the law, and relevant subsidy funds will be recovered according to regulations. Those who cause serious adverse social impacts will be criticized nationwide and the central government's subsidy funds will be doubled.

Local civil affairs and finance departments should take the initiative to promote policies, accurately interpret policies, encourage elderly care institutions established by social forces to take on social responsibilities, guide charitable organizations, volunteers, industry organizations, and other groups to participate in centralized care services for economically disadvantaged and disabled elderly people, and report prominent difficulties and problems encountered in the progress of work in a timely manner. The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Finance will adjust and improve policy measures according to actual conditions. In places where conditions permit, severely disabled individuals from families of "elderly parents+disabled children" who are included in the minimum living guarantee scope may be included in the centralized care scope, and this notice shall be followed for implementation. This notice shall come into effect from the date of publication. The Notice of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Finance on Organizing and Carrying out Central Financial Support for Concentrated Care Services for Economically Difficult and Disabled Elderly Persons (Minfa [2023] No. 53) is hereby abolished.

Ministry of Civil Affairs and Ministry of Finance

December 20, 2024