C.S. 166
XCC(77)65
CONFIDENTIAL #
Copy No Page 3 of 19
Major developments since 1973
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Apart from the extension of public assistance to the unemployed and the amendments to the Employment Ordinance in respect of sickness allowance and severence payments, the only major developments have been the proposals concerning services to the disabled contained in the draft White Paper which Honourable Members considered on 9th August (XCR(77)191) and further proposals for more financial aid and direct services to the elderly which were also considered by Honourable Members' on the same day (XCC(77)60).
Proposals for development of social security 1978-82
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It is proposed that the next developments in social security in Hong Kong should be concentrated in three areas: the streamlining and refining of the public assistance scheme; the extension of various benefits to the elderly and to those incapable of work; and the intro- duction of a voluntary contributory sickness, injury and death benefit scheme.
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These proposals have emerged as a result of fairly wide ranging: informal consultations within and outside the Government. Outside Government, there have been some 30 to 40 informal meetings with UMELCO, other prominent citizens and people active in social welfare and labour relations, employers and life assurance associations and staff of the Universities.
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Two planning assumptions underlie the proposals. The first is that, given a probable community preference for expenditure on education and housing rather than social welfare, there are clear limits to the amount of Government resources that can be devoted to social security.
The best use has therefore to be made of available resources. The second is that it is not realistic to plan on the basis of a compulsory system of contributory social insurance (an information note XCCI(77)8 on this subject was issued to Honourable Members on 11th August 1977), but that, given the limitation on Government resources, there would be advantage in persuading employees to contribute toward better social security rather than rely entirely on Government or their employers.
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Against this background, the aim has been to put forward pro- posals which, in keeping with Hong Kong's approach to social security, are directly related to needs needs which can be readily identified and which are accepted as such by the community as a whole so that the maximum use can be made of available resources. The new proposals achieve this by relating needs to individual circumstances (low income or needs arising from old age or sickness) which are outside the person's control.
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