Law Chi-kwong Welcomes Pandemic Welfare Moves

Labour and Welfare Secretary, Law Chi-kwong, says last Thursday's tweaking by the government of two important welfare programmes will help the jobless, or those on low incomes, get through the pandemic.

Speaking on Letter to Hong Kong, Law said the moves would prevent, what he called, the double-jeopardy of a family working fewer hours because of the pandemic and receiving less in welfare as a result.

"With the sustained slackening of Hong Kong's labour market since the second half of 2019, wages and household income came under pressure in tandem, with the impact particularly prominent in low income households," Law said.

Law said the number of working hours needed to qualify for the Working Family Allowance Scheme had been cut and the asset limit for its Short-term Food Assistance Service, essentially a food bank, had been raised.

The Working Family Allowance Scheme was brought in in 2016 to support lower-income working households, who were not receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance. It had a basic working hour requirement of 144 hours per month, which will now be temporarily cut in half to 72 hours.

Law said the asset limit to qualify for the food bank would be temporarily raised to HK$548,000 from HK$264,000 for a family of four. The service provides one-off basic food assistance for up to eight weeks.