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LCQ22: Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme
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     Following is a question by the Hon Tang Ka-piu and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (February 4):

Question :

     In late November last year, during her presentation on Hong Kong's poverty situation in 2013, the Chief Secretary for Administration stated that, among the various poverty alleviation programmes implemented by the Government, the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme had the greatest impact on poverty alleviation. Regarding the latest statistics on CSSA Scheme, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the annual number of households which ceased receiving CSSA payments since the implementation of the Statutory Minimum Wage regime on May 1, 2011, with a breakdown by case type and the age group to which the recipients belong;

(2) in respect of those existing CSSA households with at least one member who is employed, of the distribution of their household income and the average number of work hours of such members last month, with a breakdown by type of cases;

(3) of the number of the existing CSSA households with a monthly household income below the poverty line; among such households, the number of those who rent and reside in private housing units and are receiving rent allowance;

(4) of the respective numbers of the existing CSSA recipients who have resided in Hong Kong for less than seven years and those CSSA households with all members belonging to the ethnic minorities; the number of cases in the past three years in which such recipients ceased receiving CSSA payments; and

(5) of the total expenditure on CSSA payments made to CSSA households of the low earnings category last month and, in particular, the total expenditure on rent allowance; the total expenditure on the Low-income Working Family Allowance as estimated by the authorities should all CSSA households of the low earnings category switch to receiving the allowance?

Reply :

President,

     My reply to the Hon Tang Ka-piu's question is set out below:

(1) During the period from May 1, 2011 to December 31, 2014, there were 115 387 closed cases under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme. The breakdown by year and case type is at Annex 1.

     The Social Welfare Department (SWD) does not maintain statistics on closed CSSA cases by age group of the recipients.

(2) As at December 31, 2014, there were 25 512 CSSA recipients with earnings. The breakdown by monthly earnings, working hours and case type is at Annex 2.

(3) Poverty statistics are compiled on the basis of the "General Household Survey". After recurrent cash intervention, it is estimated that there were 84 900 CSSA poor households in 2013, among which 9 400 were tenants in private permanent housing. The Survey does not contain information on whether a CSSA household receives rent allowance.

(4) As at December 31, 2014, there were 19 127 CSSA recipients residing in Hong Kong for less than seven years. SWD does not keep statistics on the number of CSSA cases with all members belonging to the ethnic minorities, or the number of closed CSSA cases involving recipients who have been residing in Hong Kong for less than seven years or are ethnic minorities.

(5) In 2013-14, the expenditure on low-earnings CSSA cases was $742 million, which included the one-off additional month of CSSA standard rates granted to the recipients. SWD does not maintain statistics on the amount of CSSA payment granted to low-earnings cases in a particular month, or the amount of rent allowance as a proportion of the above expenditure.

     Under the Low-income Working Family Allowance (LIFA), the amount of allowance that each eligible family can receive depends on the number of working hours of the LIFA applicant, his/her familyˇ¦s income level and the number of eligible children in the family. At this stage, we are unable to estimate the number of low-earnings CSSA families that would be eligible for and would switch to LIFA. Therefore, we do not have any estimation on the amount of allowance which might be involved.

Ends/Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Issued at HKT 14:20

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