More Elderly, Self-employed Included In Subsidy Plan

The government has tweaked the wage subsidy scheme unveiled as a part of the epidemic fund to include more elderly workers, as Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced that her administration will start accepting applications for the subsidy from May 25.

Under the scheme, the government will pay business owners half of workers' salaries for six months, with the monthly subsidy for each employee capped at HK$9,000.

Speaking before the weekly Executive Council meeting, Lam said a number of improvements to the subsidy scheme have been made and it will now cost the government more than HK$80 billion.

When the scheme was announced last month, only workers who have been making mandatory contributions to MPF accounts were to be covered. This arrangement had come under fire as it meant workers aged over 65, who are exempted from the MPF scheme, could not be covered.

Lam said employers of 60,000 elderly workers who still have MPF accounts could also now apply for the wage subsidies, even if they no longer make any mandatory contributions.

Restrictions have also been relaxed for more than 200,000 people who are self-employed.

Previous rules stated that they could get a one-off HK$7,500 subsidy from the government only if they have been making contributions to MPF accounts.

Now they can receive the money as long as they had an MPF account before March 31, even if they weren't putting any money in.

A scheme which covered only red minibus and taxi drivers, who are to get HK$6,000 a month for half a year, has also been expanded to include green minibus drivers and ferry staff, Lam said.

The three-week application period will start on May 25 and employers or self-employed people can submit their applications online, where they can authorise their MPF trustees to pass relevant records to the government.

Lam said the first of the money will be paid out as early as the end of June.