[ad_1]
Underprivileged families are currently eligible for the family allowance if the household works at least 144 hours a month in total. The amount ranges from HK$500 (US$64) to HK$1,400 a month, depending on the number of hours and the family’s financial situation. Each child is also entitled to an additional HK$700 to HK$1,400 per month.
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Given that many people are underemployed during the outbreak, the government decided to lower the threshold of hours to 72.
“Since the outbreak started at the beginning of last year, many people have been underemployed,” Law said.
About 56,300 households currently benefit from the scheme, Law noted. The changes will add 24,000 more households to the programme, at a one-off cost of HK$950 million.
The government is only helping the people with a job and not those without one
Under the food bank scheme, which has been running since 2009, the government commissions non-governmental organisations to provide staples to underprivileged families and street sleepers. A one-person household and a four-member family, for instance, are eligible if they hold assets less than HK$99,000 and HK$264,000, respectively. Following the changes, the limits will be raised to HK$266,000 and HK$548,000. But candidates will continue to be subject to screening on the basis of their monthly wages.
In 2019, about 38,000 people benefited from the food bank scheme, and Law estimated that 120,000 more people will become eligible.
But Lee Cheuk-yan, general secretary of the Confederation of Trade Unions, hit out at the government for refusing to introduce an unemployment allowance.
“Why is it that while the people with a job are getting assistance from the government, those without a job are not getting it?” the former lawmaker said. “I don’t object to the latest changes but the absurdity is that the government is only helping the people with a job and not those without one.”
Lee called for an unemployment allowance capped at HK$16,000 a month, depending on the workers’ wages before they were laid off.
[ad_2]
Source link
