THE Welsh Government will invest £27 million over the next year into helping more than 1,600 disabled people in Gwent and across Wales to live independently.

The Welsh Independent Living Grant helps people who need help with with cooking, eating and drinking, dressing, cleaning and other domestic duties to afford the additional costs.

It was set up last year after the UK Government scrapped its Independent Living Fund to ensure people in Wales were not adversely impacted.

In the current financial year £20.4 million was handed out to local authorities across Wales to enable them to continue payments, and now health minister Mark Drakeford has announced the scheme will continue until at least March 2017.

“The Welsh Independent Living Grant has worked well, with disabled people who previously received payments from the Independent Living Fund receiving these from their local authority instead,” he said.

“I want to thank local authorities for the critical role they have played in making this a success.”

The minister added he was currently in the process of looking at other, more long-term options to continue support in the future.