One-third of new applicants for Hong Kong elderly welfare payments stand to lose out on thousands per month because of rise in age threshold
- Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong tells Legco up to 30 per cent of new recipients will lose out because they are able-bodied
- Social Welfare Department admits it does not know how many eligible people aged 60 to 64 there are and will have to rely on applications to determine the number
About one in three new applicants for Hong Kong’s basic social assistance for those aged 60 to 64 will get a few thousand dollars less in subsidies after the age threshold was lifted to 65, the city’s welfare chief revealed on Monday.
Law Chi-kwong, head of the Labour and Welfare Bureau, was responding to lawmakers’ questions on the government’s decision to raise the lower age limit on the comprehensive social security assistance (CSSA) scheme for elderly people from 60 to 65 starting in February.
In light of the change, the basic CSSA payment for a new able-bodied recipient aged 60 to 64 will drop from HK$3,585 (US$457) to HK$2,525 per month. Faced with public anger, the government compromised in January and announced a new employment support supplement of HK$1,060 per month for the affected group, with no conditions attached – the exact difference between the rates that single adults and their counterparts over 65 will be getting under the new policy.
Law told a Legislative Council welfare panel meeting on Monday that up to 30 per cent of new CSSA applicants aged 60 to 64 could lose 14 types of subsidies such as those for transport, housing and medical care because they were able-bodied.
These subsidies could amount to a few thousand dollars less than what elderly welfare recipients might have stood to receive had the policy change not happened, according to Social Welfare Department guidelines for the scheme.
For example, an elderly CSSA recipient could have a community living supplement of HK$340 per month and a special grant for rent deposit, which could be more than HK$3,700 for a single-person family under the scheme.
All CSSA recipients aged 60 or above were eligible for these subsidies before the age threshold was changed. But new applicants younger than 65 will now be able to apply for them only if they are disabled or in ill-health.