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BACKGROUND NOTE
HONG KONG : HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC ASSISTANCE SCHEME
1. Social Assistance programmes in Hong Kong began with the provision of food and clothing for the refugees of the war in the Pacific. Much of it was provided by voluntary organisations. In 1967 the Hong Kong Government codified the entitlements available under the Public Assistance Scheme administered by the Social Welfare Department. Even then relief was based on the provision of dry rations; cash payments were only made in exceptional circumstances.
2. In a speech to the Legislative Council in February 1969,. the Financial Secretary admitted that he had concentrated on
economic affairs at the expense of social concerns. He described the existing Public Assistance Scheme as "rudimentary" and proceeded to set out guidelines for a more sophisticated scheme based on cash payments.
3. The Governor accepted this and similar appraisals of the situation and requested our help. As a result Mr Heppell was seconded from the DHL and produced a report in February 1970, which concerned itself almost solely with setting up the administrative machinery to deal with an extended scheme. report was accepted by the Hong kong Government, which proceeded to outline the following proposals:-
(i)
(ii)
changeover to cash payments;
easing of residential qualifications; (iii) more generous levels of assistance.
The
As previously, entitlement was determined by a strict means test and efforts were made to ensure that a sufficient gap was kept between wage levels and assistance levels so that the incentive
to work was preserved. The Governor approved the scheme on
17 March 1970.
14.