Consultation results on Hong Kong universal pension scheme may be ‘illusion’: minister
Welfare chief Matthew Cheung claims an individual or group may be behind written submissions
The welfare minister has hinted the government may not necessarily adopt a universal pension scheme despite it receiving the overwhelming support of 90 per cent of respondents during a public consultation.
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said yesterday the government would need to take into account the “quality” of the views.
In a government report released last week on the six-month public consultation, more than 90 per cent of 18,365 submissions received were in favour of universal pension.
The scheme would allow everyone aged 65 or above to receive a pension of HK$3,230 per month.
But the government suspected an organised campaign in favour of the scheme as 16,830 submissions were written in seven types of standard format.