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The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam, chaired the 14th meeting of the Commission on Poverty (CoP) in its second term this afternoon (November 24). There were two discussion items for this meeting, namely the implementation details of the Low-income Working Family Allowance (LIFA) Scheme and continuing to deliberate on the draft consultation document for the public consultation on retirement protection.
At the meeting, members noted the timetable and implementation details of the LIFA Scheme. Applications would be received in three phases from May 2016 onwards. Details of the application arrangements would be publicised when application forms become available for distribution in April 2016. The Working Family Allowance Office of the Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Agency would begin to publicise the eligibility criteria for the LIFA Scheme and the application arrangements through various channels, and would advise applicants to start keeping documentary proof of working hours, family income and assets and more from November 2015 onwards for submission of applications.
In addition, the CoP continued to discuss the draft consultation document for the upcoming public consultation on retirement protection in December. Members completed deliberations on the contents of the first draft on the whole, and will discuss the revised draft at the next meeting, aiming to finalise the text in good time so that the public consultation can be launched in December as scheduled.
Ends/Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Issued at HKT 19:51
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