Negotiations between the Social Welfare Department and a parent who was overpaid more than $160,000 in allowances broke down yesterday, with both sides refusing to compromise.
Mrs Lee, mother of a 17-year-old visually impaired girl, said she would not return the $161,663, saying it was a 'matter of principle'.
The dispute arose in April when the department accused her of failing to report her daughter's admission to a special boarding school under the Education and Manpower Bureau since 1992.
The department said that as a pupil at the school the girl was only eligible for the normal disability allowance of about $1,120, and not the high disability allowance of $2,240 she had been receiving.
'I told the department in the beginning that my daughter stayed at a boarding school,' Mrs Lee said. 'It is not my fault but their administrative misconduct that resulted in overpaying the allowance. Why should I give back the money?'
Mrs Lee's daughter was found to have stayed in a government-subvented boarding school from 1992 to 2004 during a cross-check with the Education and Manpower Bureau.
The family has not received any disability allowance since May, and Mrs Lee said losing it had had a big impact on the family.