A 62-year-old contract cleaner and breadwinner for her family has still not got a special Hong Kong government Covid-19 subsidy three months after she asked her employer to submit a claim. Amy* said she had to continue to work as a cleaner at a private company in Tai Po through the fifth wave of infections, despite soaring numbers of confirmed cases. She said it was some comfort that the government promised a HK$10,000 (US$1,282) subsidy for essential workers who had contributed to the battle against the coronavirus pandemic, which had to be applied for through employers. But Amy added that, despite asking her employer about the payment in early April, the firm had still not submitted a claim on her behalf. “We are entitled to the allowance and it is the contractor’s responsibility to help us,” she said. “The government has not been most helpful either. The complicated application process has made it very difficult for us to receive the subsidy.” How Hong Kong’s ‘Covid-19 heroes’ rose to the challenges they faced A government progress report revealed that fewer than 10 per cent of the 16,791 applications for the support scheme for environmental hygiene and security staff in the property management sector had been approved by the first week of May – three months after the scheme was introduced. Amy said the extra money would help to cover bills for job-related health problems. She explained: “The subsidy could help cover my medical expenses – it is very costly to constantly visit doctors for my repetitive strain injuries.” The contract cleaner said she had discussed her claim with her employer and the company she worked at. She added the company told her in mid-May it would help with the application if the contractor collected workers’ details and submitted them to its head office. But the contractor failed to hand over the information and all she was told was that the application would be done soon. More than 200 frontline workers, including Amy, appealed to Lam Chun-sing, the president of the Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions, for help with their applications as the June 30 deadline loomed. The union leader highlighted that many contractors and property management companies had refused to apply for the benefits because of the complicated administrative work involved. Lam said he met representatives of the Property Management Services Authority on June 7 to discuss the problem. Amy and other outstanding cases were also discussed by Lam and the statutory body, but her case is still in mediation. Only frontline workers employed at buildings that do not have owners’ corporations, residents’ organisations or property management companies – known as “three-nil” buildings – can apply for the allowance themselves. Everyone else has to apply through employers, property management companies or owners’ organisations. A HK$100 per worker administrative subsidy has been earmarked for companies, but unions and lawmakers said the payments were not a strong enough incentive for employers to start the application process. Other frontline categories include staff at care homes for the elderly and disabled, tour guides, sports coaches, cross-border truck drivers and property management workers. They are also entitled to the HK$2,000 a month subsidy for five months as part of the latest HK$27 billion round of pandemic relief. Officials bolster Covid testing as cases top 1,000 for third day in Hong Kong But even for those who managed to apply for the one-off subsidy, long delays have left many low-income frontline workers frustrated, including a 50-year-old Hong Kong truck driver, who identified himself only as Chan. Chan and other truck drivers applied for the subsidy at the end of February, but they still do not know if they have been approved. He said: “I called the Transport Department from time to time, and they just asked me to wait. “They added there is only one staff member handling all applications.” Hong Kong truckers have had to stick to strict Covid-19 rules during the pandemic. They are banned from leaving their vehicles to load goods in mainland China and have to rely on staff at designated interchange spots to do the work. Many are confined inside their trucks for six to seven hours while loading is carried out and the conditions have led many drivers to quit their jobs. A government spokesman said it would continue to monitor the payments process to make sure successful applicants got their money as soon as possible. He added that the eligibility criteria and procedures for vetting applications were drawn up to take account of the objectives of the scheme and the situation of the targeted workers. ‘Hong Kong’s border control rules untenable’, city logs 1,276 Covid cases Holden Chow Ho-ding, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), had earlier asked Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to tackle the problem. During a session of the city’s legislature, he appealed for frontline workers to be allowed to submit individual applications. Chow, however, admitted that quick changes to the application process were unlikely as Lam’s term of office was coming to an end. But he said the next government under John Lee Ka-chiu should look into how to improve the benefits system for frontline workers. Chow added: “The new government also has to make sure that there will be sufficient manpower to monitor and handle the applications across different bureaus and departments.” Interviewee’s name changed per request*