The Government announced today (January 3) that recipients of the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA), recipients of the Old Age Allowance (OAA) (including the Guangdong (GD) Scheme and the Fujian (FJ) Scheme), the Old Age Living Allowance (OALA) and the Disability Allowance (DA) under the Social Security Allowance (SSA) Scheme, and recipients of the Working Family Allowance (WFA) and Individual-based Work Incentive Transport Subsidy (I-WITS) will receive a one-off extra allowance starting from January 7. This is part of a series of measures to support enterprises, safeguard jobs and relieve people's burden as announced by the Financial Secretary on August 15, 2019.
A Government spokesman said that recipients who were eligible for the above social security payments on December 6, 2019 (the date the Legislative Council Finance Committee approved the funding proposal), would be eligible for the one-off extra allowance. The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has been allocated $3,888 million for implementing the arrangements and will credit the payment to the designated bank accounts of the eligible recipients without the need to make an application.
For CSSA recipients, the amount of the one-off extra allowance is equivalent to one month's standard rate payable to different categories of recipients under the CSSA Scheme. Recipients of OAA (including the GD Scheme and the FJ Scheme), OALA and DA will receive an additional one month's allowance. The level of payments is as follows:
| CSSA Scheme | Additional payment ($) | |
| Category of recipients | Single person | Family member |
| Elderly person (Able-bodied/different degree of disability) | 3,585 – 6,095 | 3,375 – 5,590 |
| Adult (Able-bodied/different degree of disability) | 2,525 – 6,095 | 1,810 – 5,590 |
| Child (Able-bodied/different degree of disability) | 3,035 – 6,535 | 2,015 – 6,035 |
| SSA Scheme | ||
| OAA | 1,385 | |
| Normal OALA | 2,675 | |
| Higher OALA | 3,585 | |
| Normal DA | 1,770 | |
| Higher DA | 3,540 | |
The measure will benefit about 1.33 million eligible persons, including 320 000 CSSA recipients, 570 000 OALA recipients, 290 000 OAA (including GD Scheme and FJ Scheme) recipients and 160 000 DA recipients.
For enquiries, recipients of social security payments may call the SWD hotline (2343 2255) or contact the respective Social Security Field Unit.
For the WFA/I-WITS Schemes, recipients eligible for the extra allowance are those whose applications were made in the period from June 1 to December 6, 2019 (the date the Legislative Council Finance Committee approved the funding proposal), and eventually approved. The extra allowance is equal to the average monthly amount of approved months payable to the corresponding recipients in their most recently submitted (and eventually approved) applications in the above period. The amount varies from case to case. They are not required to make separate applications.
The Working Family Allowance Office (WFAO) of the Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Agency has been allocated $136 million and $19 million for the one-off extra allowance to recipients of WFA and I-WITS respectively. It is estimated that the measure would benefit 57 000 WFA households and 32 000 I-WITS recipients.
For enquiries, recipients of WFA and I-WITS may call the hotline of the WFAO (2558 3000) or visit the WFAO's enquiry counters at 9/F, 181 Hoi Bun Road, Kwun Tong, or visit the website of WFAO (www.wfsfaa.gov.hk/wfao).
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