Welfare director wants supplement scrapped, raising alarm of parents' advocates
A single-parent welfare supplement of $225 a month should eventually be scrapped, the director of social welfare believes.
Paul Tang Kwok-wai's remarks have fuelled the controversy over the government's proposal to push single parents back into the workforce. Under the plan, released last month, single parents with a child aged between six and 15 would have to earn at least $1,430 a month to keep the supplement.
And they would have to at least try to find a job if they wanted to keep receiving welfare.
'Single-parent families are already receiving more CSSA than ordinary families. A single parent with two kids receives about $9,000 a month,' Mr Tang said. He added that the proposal was a 'reasonable' incentive to encourage single parents to work.
Mr Tang said the proposal was a response to an Audit Commission report a few years ago, which questioned the rationale behind the supplement, introduced in 1995.
'We were criticised by the auditor over it. In fact, it is questionable if it should be kept in the long run.'