LCQ8: Receipt of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance by elderly persons and their residing in residential care homes for the elderly

     Following is a question by the Hon Leung Che-cheung and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Dr Law Chi-kwong, in the Legislative Council today (January 9):
 
Question:

     Regarding the receipt of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) by elderly persons (i.e. persons aged 60 or above) and their residing in residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs), will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of the number of elderly CSSA recipients residing in private RCHEs in each of the past three years;
 
(2) of the respective average monthly amounts of special grants and supplements currently received, on top of the standard rates, by elderly CSSA recipients, broken down by level of their disabilities (i.e. in need of constant attendance, 100 per cent disabled and able-bodied/50 per cent disabled);
 
(3) whether the authorities will consider raising the amount of Residential Care Supplement disbursed to elderly CSSA recipients so as to enable them to receive residential care services of a higher quality; if so, of the details; and
 
(4) of the number of eligible RCHEs under the Pilot Scheme on Residential Care Service Voucher for the Elderly and the number of elderly persons participating in the Scheme as at the end of last month, with a tabulated breakdown of the number of such elderly persons by the co-payment level to which they belonged?
 
Reply:

President,
 
     My reply to Hon Leung's question is as follows:
 
(1) In the past three financial years, the number of elderly Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients residing in non-subsidised places of residential care homes for the elderly and residential care homes for persons with disabilities is as follows:
 

 
     The above number of recipients reflects the position as at the end of the respective financial year (i.e. end-March).
 
(2) The average monthly CSSA payments received by elderly singletons residing in non-subsidised care places according to their levels of disabilities are as follows:
 

 
Note: The payments are calculated in accordance with the CSSA payment rates effective from February 1, 2018.
 
(3) The Government provides a monthly residential care supplement to CSSA recipients who are elderly, disabled or medically certified to be in ill health and residing in non-subsidised residential care places to ease their financial burden.  The supplement is currently $330 and will be adjusted to $340 on February 1, 2019 according to the established mechanism.
 
(4) Launched in March 2017, the Pilot Scheme on Residential Care Service Voucher (RCSV) for the Elderly (the Pilot Scheme) is implemented in three phases from 2017 to 2019.  The RCSV value is adjusted annually, with the latest value being $13,287 per month (with effect from October 1, 2018).  Based on their financial means, RCSV holders under the Pilot Scheme are designated under a scale of co-payment at eight levels, ranging from the lowest Level 0 to the highest Level 7.  RCSV holders at Level 0 are not required to pay for RCSV services as they are fully subsidised by the Government.  Meanwhile, RCSV holders from Level 1 to Level 7 are required to pay an amount of co-payment equivalent to 10 per cent, 20 per cent, 30 per cent, 40 per cent, 50 per cent, 62.5 per cent or 75 per cent of the RCSV value respectively.
 
     As at end-December 2018, there were 103 residential care homes for the elderly participating in the Pilot Scheme, with a total of 975 elderly persons issued with the RCSVs.  The co-payment levels at different percentages of the RCSV value and the respective number of RCSV holders are as follows: