​Following is a question by the Hon Holden Chow and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, in the Legislative Council today (July 13):

Question:

     Currently, eligible Hong Kong elderly persons who have moved to reside in Guangdong (GD) and Fujian (FJ) Provinces may receive the monthly Old Age Allowance (OAA), the Normal Old Age Living Allowance (Normal OALA) or the Higher Old Age Living Allowance (Higher OALA) through the Guangdong Scheme and the Fujian Scheme (the two Schemes) without being required to return to Hong Kong each year. The eligibility criteria for the two Schemes include the requirement that the applicant must have resided in Hong Kong continuously for at least one year immediately before the date of application (absence from Hong Kong up to a maximum of 56 days during the one-year period is regarded as meeting the requirement of one-year continuous residence in Hong Kong) (the requirement of continuous residence in Hong Kong). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) given that since January 1, 2020, the Government has, in view of the epidemic situation, implemented a special arrangement to enable applicants who have moved to reside in GD and FJ Provinces and satisfied all other eligibility criteria of the two Schemes but failed to meet the requirement of continuous residence in Hong Kong to be granted discretionary exemption for counting the days of absence from Hong Kong, of the latest details of this special arrangement;

(2) of the respective numbers of elderly persons who applied for (i) OAA, (ii) Normal OALA and (iii) Higher OALA under the two Schemes in each of the past two years;

(3) as it is learnt that in recent years, there are increasingly more elderly persons going to the Mainland for retirement, whether the Government will consider relaxing the requirement of continuous residence in Hong Kong under the two Schemes by allowing Hong Kong elderly persons who have moved to reside in GD and FJ Provinces and satisfied all other eligibility criteria to apply directly in the provinces where they reside for the allowances under the two Schemes, without being required to return to Hong Kong to complete the application procedure in person; and

(4) whether it will consider extending the arrangement of the two Schemes to other provinces of the Mainland, so as to enable more eligible Hong Kong elderly persons to enjoy their twilight years on the Mainland?

Reply:

President,

     Applicants of the Social Security Allowance (SSA) Scheme (including the Guangdong (GD) Scheme and Fujian (FJ) Scheme) must have resided in Hong Kong continuously for at least one year immediately before the date of application, with a grace period of 56 days for absence from Hong Kong, such that applicants may leave Hong Kong temporarily for reasons such as family visits and travel outside Hong Kong. This one-year continuous residence (OYCR) requirement ensures that SSA applicants have a genuine connection with Hong Kong at the time of application and provides a basis for reasonably allocating finite public resources.

     My reply to the question raised by the Member is as follows:

(1) In view of the pandemic, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) has implemented a special arrangement since January 2020 to give consideration to disregard absences from Hong Kong of applicants or recipients of various social security schemes (including the SSA Scheme). Under the special arrangement, there is no limit on absence from Hong Kong insofar as the OYCR requirement is concerned. At present, the aforementioned arrangement is still in effect. The SWD will keep in view the arrangement in light of the pandemic situation.

(2) As at end-May 2022, there were about 20 000 and 2 000 elderly persons residing in GD and FJ benefitting from the GD Scheme and FJ Scheme respectively. The application numbers of the two Schemes since 2020 are as follows:
 

Year	GD Scheme				FJ Scheme
	Old Age Allowance (OAA)	Normal Old Age Living Allowance (OALA)	Higher OALA	Sub-total	OAA	Normal OALA	Higher OALA	Sub-total
2020	913	380	989	2 282	62	24	80	166
2021	562	157	699	1 418	30	13	48	91
2022 (As at end-May 2022)	174	53	224	451	14	5	20	39

(3) As mentioned above, the OYCR requirement ensures that SSA applicants have a genuine connection with Hong Kong at the time of application and provides a basis for reasonably allocating finite public resources. Therefore, it is necessary to apply the OYCR requirement to the GD and FJ Schemes under the SSA Scheme.

     To provide greater flexibility to elderly persons who wish to apply for relevant allowances under the SSA Scheme and retire on the Mainland, the 2021 Policy Address announced that the Government would explore the relaxation of the 56-day absence limit under the OYCR requirement. In doing so, we need to take into account how applicants' need for temporary absence could be catered for on one hand, and on the other hand, ensure that persons who have lived outside Hong Kong for a long time could not immediately benefit from non-contributory allowances upon return to Hong Kong, thereby concentrating resources to support local elderly who are in need. We plan to consult the Panel on Welfare Services of the Legislative Council on the proposal of relaxing the absence limit in the fourth quarter of 2022.

     Under normal circumstances, applicants of the GD and FJ Schemes must complete the application procedures in person in Hong Kong so that the SWD may verify information provided by the applicant. Where necessary, the applicant would be invited to provide supplementary information. For applicants who are unable to travel to Hong Kong for the application due to health reasons, they could produce medical proof issued by public hospitals or clinics indicating their health condition. The SWD's agents have been tasked to assist these applicants in completing the application procedures without returning to Hong Kong.

(4) The GD and FJ Schemes only cover eligible elderly persons residing in GD and FJ mainly because there are relatively more Hong Kong people residing in these two provinces, and the two provinces are uniquely and closely connected with Hong Kong on the social, economic and transport fronts. The Government has no plan to change the relevant arrangements at this moment.

Ends/Wednesday, July 13, 2022
Issued at HKT 11:21

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