Lawmakers urged to back allowance scheme for sake of needy Hong Kong seniors

The Elderly Commission yesterday pleaded with legislators to approve the new old-age allowance scheme in its present form, so needy people could benefit immediately.

"The priority is to have the allowance scheme put through so the 400,000 elderly in need can get the help they need as soon as possible," Chan said.

"We have urged the government to finalise the allowance scheme as soon as possible, and we plead that Legislative Council members will vote it through."

He spoke after commission members voted unanimously to support the scheme, which will pay HK$2,200 a month to people 65 or over with assets of less than HK$186,000 and monthly income of HK$6,600 or less.

Legislators said they might veto the scheme unless the asset and income levels were raised or the means test was scrapped.

Chief executive Leung Chun-ying said he would not give in to their demands.

Chan called the allowance "a middle ground between welfare and the present scheme, known as fruit money, and said it could help many elderly who fell in between the two. The existing allowance pays HK$1,090 a month. People 70 and above can receive it without a means test.

Chan said the commission did not discuss in detail whether HK$2,200 was enough to pull elderly people out of poverty.

He also warned against comparing the allowance scheme to universal retirement plans, saying these were separate policies.

"The allowance scheme is a poverty alleviation mechanism, while universal retirement protection concerns the whole of Hong Kong," he said.

The Legislative Council has scheduled two additional meetings, apart from a Finance Committee meeting next Friday, to discuss the allowance plans.

Chan also said the commission welcomed the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation's enhanced reverse-mortgage plans for the elderly. The adjustments include lowering the minimum age of borrowers from 60 to 55.