CY Leung to unveil HK$3b boost for poor families in policy address
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying will today unveil a HK$3 billion scheme to provide an annual financial boost to 700,000 people from low-income households.
A source with knowledge of the scheme said working poor families whose monthly household income was below 60 per cent of median household income - which stood at HK$22,500 in the third quarter of last year - could apply for the subsidy. A family with at least one member who works for at least 208 hours a month will receive HK$1,000 per month, while a family with someone working for at least 144 hours a month will get HK$600.
"A working poor household will be offered a monthly supplement of HK$800 for each non-working child, aged 18 or under, and another HK$800 for the second child," the source said. "There is no cap on the number of children eligible."
A four-member family with two children could receive a supplement of HK$2,600 a month. To qualify, a family of four must have net assets totalling no more than HK$436,000. But families without children would also be eligible to receive the subsidy.
The scheme is more generous than one proposed by Oxfam, where a family would receive HK$800 a month for the first two children aged 18 or under, adjusted downwards from the third child onwards to reflect the family's decreasing costs.