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The Working Family Allowance Office (WFAO) of the Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Agency (WFSFAA) will receive Phase 1 applications for the Low-income Working Family Allowance (LIFA) Scheme in May 2016. Copies of the application form and related documents (applicable to families with four or more persons) are available from today (April 1).
The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, encouraged eligible low-income families to apply for the LIFA. He said, "The new Scheme is an important measure of the Government to alleviate poverty. With an aim to encourage self-reliance and ease inter-generational poverty, the Scheme is designed to promote employment and incentivise those who work longer hours with a higher allowance.
"The Scheme is expected to benefit 200 000 families comprising 700 000 people, of whom 170 000 persons are eligible children or youths. The allowances to be disbursed are estimated at $2.9 billion per year."
"To ensure the smooth processing of applications, the WFAO will accept first-batch applications in three phases to even out the workload. The claim periods for the first-batch applications all start from November 2015 under any of the three phases. After the first batch of applications, the claim periods of applications will be standardised to be the past six months," Mr Cheung added.
The application periods under the three-phase arrangements are: May 2016 for families with four or more persons, June 2016 for families with three persons, and July 2016 for families with two persons. The application form and related documents for Phase 2 (applicable to families with three persons) and Phase 3 (applicable to families with two persons) will be made available on May 3, 2016 and June 1, 2016 respectively.
There are 159 distribution outlets including the WFAO, the Student Finance Office (of the WFSFAA), the Work Incentive Transport Subsidy Division, Job Centres and Industry-based Recruitment Centres of the Labour Department, District Social Welfare Offices, Social Security Field Units and Integrated Family Service Centres of the Social Welfare Department, and Public Enquiry Service Centres of the Home Affairs Department. The application form and related documents can also be downloaded from the LIFA website (lifa.gov.hk).
Community briefings will be organised in all districts in April 2016 for the public to learn about the application arrangements for the LIFA Scheme and how to fill in the application form. On-site enquiry services will be available after the briefings to answer questions from members of the public about filling in the application form. Details of the community briefings are set out in Annex 1 and are available on the LIFA website (lifa.gov.hk).
The income and asset limits of the LIFA Scheme for 2016-17 were announced today (April 1) (see Annex 2) and are available on the LIFA website (lifa.gov.hk). They are applicable to the claim months from April 2016 to March 2017.
Under the Scheme, a family of two or more members meeting the income and asset limits may apply for a full-rate Basic Allowance ($600 per month), a full-rate Higher Allowance ($1,000 per month), a half-rate Basic Allowance ($300 per month) or a half-rate Higher Allowance ($500 per month) if the applicant meets the working hour requirements. Each eligible child may also be granted a full-rate Child Allowance ($800 per month) or a half-rate Child Allowance ($400 per month). Noting that single parents may have less support in taking care of their children, the working hour requirements for single parents will be lower.
For enquiries, please call the 24-hour LIFA hotline 2558 3000 or visit the LIFA website (lifa.gov.hk).
Ends/Friday, April 1, 2016
Issued at HKT 09:31
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