funeral, medical and other expenses
The maximum disbursement from the Fund for each application is to be set at $5,000. Details of the proposed scheme are set out at Annex D.
9
The proposed Fund will be managed by the Secretary for the Civil Service. Applications from pensioners residing locally will be vetted initially by the Pensioners Welfare Unit.
The assistance of the International Social Service, which is used to vet overseas recipients of the Hong Kong War Memorial Fund, will be sought where necessary to vet applications from pensioners living abroad. The findings will then be considered by the Secretary for the Civil Service and such other officers who have been delegated with the authority. They will have to satisfy themselves as to the proof of hardship of the applicants and determine the size of each grant, taking into consideration whether the pensioner is already eligible for some form of relief available to the public under the local welfare/relief system in order to avoid double benefits. It is not proposed that applicants should be subject to means tests because the scheme would become too complicated and expensive to administer.
FINANCIAL AND STAFFING IMPLICATIONS
10 the
The cost of providing cash relief to pensioners in manner described in paragraph 8 above is expected to be in the region of $250,000 in the first year of the scheme. This estimate has taken into account a number of genuine hardship cases among the 185 applications already received and possible There is the possibility that the number of requests for assistance will increase once this "Pensioners' Welfare Fund" becomes known, but this element is difficult to forecast at this stage.
new cases.
11
The scheme will be administered by the Pensioners Welfare Unit of the Civil Service Branch and the additional workload will be absorbed by existing staff.
Staff Reaction
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welcomed by
The proposed scheme is likely to be pensioners as it is an additional source of more ready financial assistance for themselves and their families should they face hardship or distress.