Family income ceiling raised; part-time workers eligible to apply

The government appears to have garnered sufficient votes to carry the Work Incentive Transport Subsidy Scheme through the Legislative Council (LegCo) Finance Committee, after lifting the income limit for two-person families and reducing the required number of working hours.

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung announced an increase of the income limit for two-person families from HK$10,000 to HK$12,000 Thursday.

Meanwhile, he announced a reduction in the required number of monthly working hours from 72 to 36 hours.

He made the announcement at a media conference before presenting the amendments to the LegCo panel on manpower.

The income limit increases benefits to members of two-person families which earn the minimum wage of over HK$5,800 a month, he said.

Shorter working hours will allow part-time workers such as domestic helpers to receive half the subsidy, or HK$300 a month, Cheung said.

However, the plan disallowed individuals to apply for the program, insisting on using families as the unit of application.

As a result, the revision will benefit additional 50,000 people, compared with the proposal suggested on Feb 11, as the government estimates a total of 436,000 people are eligible, Cheung said.

Accordingly, the budget will rise to HK$4.85 billion from HK$4.3 billion for the next three years, on condition that half of the eligible will apply.

Cheung called on lawmakers to support the funding so as to kick-start the plan.

The dramatic change of the government came as a result of a show-down with pro-establishment lawmakers on Wednesday night, just a few hours after a partisan alliance claimed it had gauged 34 votes favoring postponement of the funding earlier the day.

Now with the support of the Liberal Party (three votes), Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU), which has four votes and several independent legislators, the vote will almost certainly go the government's way.

Liberal Party chairwoman Miriam Lau Kin-yee expressed concern that some people now receiving the transport allowance will be rendered ineligible because only families may apply.

The party said it reluctantly supports the revised plan because party members do not want to delay it.

Legislator Wong Kwok-kin, from the FTU, said the government would not have come to such a dilemma had it listened to the voices of the labor sector, which had pressed for both individuals and families to be eligible.

The plan is imperfect but the federation will let it start to help the needy people, he said.

Democratic Party lawmaker Nelson Wong Sing-chi said the party will continue to strive for the "dual track" arrangement to allow both individuals and families to apply.

He criticized Cheung for creating a "new definition" of families by saying co-inhabitants can apply for the transport subsidy.

Frederick Fung Kin-kee, from the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, argued said the plan should help working people rather not families.

If only families can apply, families with more working people will find it harder to apply, he said.

Another unionist lawmaker Li Fung-ying criticized that the means tests are too harsh.

People lose their dignity because they are required to violate the privacy of their whole families, merely for HK$600 per month, he said.

Once it is approved, the government will start receiving applications in October retroactive to April.

A sum of HK$3,600 will be deposited into the bank account of eligible applicants in October.

Cheung has agreed to an interim review on the plan one year after it is carried out and a comprehensive review after three years.

China Daily

(HK Edition 02/18/2011 page1)