Hong Kong needy risk losing allowances if they don't spend one-off handouts in a year

One-off handouts given to welfare recipients to cope with rising living costs must be spent within a year or they will be counted as part of the recipient's assets.

This emerged after an elderly man had his Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) handout cut because he saved the one-off government payouts he received in recent years, causing him to breach the asset limit.

Labour and welfare minister Matthew Cheung Kin-chung told lawmakers yesterday that the government handled the old man's case "correctly", adding that CSSA was the last safety net for those struggling to survive and should therefore adhere to a stringent standard.

The man - an elderly diabetic living alone - had reported his own asset increase, prompting the Social Welfare Department to cut his payment and telling him to pay back HK$7,800 while he was over the limit, the Legislative Council heard.

"So basically the government will give out this one-off handout to help the needy. But if they don't use it all up within a year, they are punished accordingly," said pan-democrat lawmaker Leung Yiu-chung, who asked the government to review the low asset limit of HK$43,500 for single elderly people to receive welfare.

Cheung said the elderly man was not now eligible for CSSA - which for single elderly people ranges from HK$3,200 to HK$5,450 depending on need - but the Social Welfare Department had signed him up for the Old Age Living Allowance, which has an asset limit of HK$210,000 for a single elderly person and provides a monthly allowance of around HK$2,200.