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The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, visited the Social Welfare Department's (SWD) Sham Shui Po Social Security Field Unit today (August 8) to get a first-hand grasp of the Government's support services for the needy in the district.
Accompanied by the Assistant Director (Social Security), Miss Maria Lau, and the District Social Welfare Officer (Sham Shui Po), Mrs Helen Kwok, Mr Cheung was briefed on the general trend as well as local profile of social security recipients.
At present, there are about 420 000 recipients of the Old Age Living Allowance, 210 000 recipients of the Old Age Allowance (including 17 000 under the Guangdong Scheme), and 120 000 recipients of Disability Allowance under the Social Security Allowance (SSA) Scheme.
As for the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme, the overall caseload registered a continuous decrease over 39 consecutive months to about 260 000 with a total of around 390 000 recipients at the end of June. Over 58 per cent of these were old age cases, while the number of unemployment and low earnings cases took up less than 11 per cent, Mr Cheung was told.
Mr Cheung noted that the one-off additional payment for all SSA and CSSA recipients, as part of the relief measures announced in this year's Budget, was being credited to the designated bank accounts of the recipients today.
Mr Cheung expressed particular concern over the support services for single-parent families, new arrivals and street sleepers in Sham Shui Po district. He was briefed on the stepped-up services provided to these disadvantaged groups. He said he was pleased to learn that SWD had been joining with the Housing Department and local non-governmental organisations to promote welfare services among the residents in two new public housing estates.
Ends/Friday, August 8, 2014
Issued at HKT 18:14
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