The Ombudsman has hit out at the Social Welfare Department for setting "contradictory criteria" that led to an elderly couple initially losing a month's payments in Comprehensive Social Security Assistance.
The issue revolves around whether the CSSA asset means test should still be applicable if the person is old or infirm.
The Office of the Ombudsman examined two clauses in the criteria for the scheme after receiving a complaint, its senior investigation officer Margaret Fung Tin-lai said yesterday.
"We found that the two clauses were contradictory," she said.
The department responded by saying the criteria did not contradict each other, but that it would review "relevant rules" under the scheme.
In the complaint, a woman said her elderly parents had long been living in a public rental flat and were both CSSA recipients.
In June 2011, she bought the flat for her parents, putting their names down as its owners.