SOCIAL WELFARE
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more than a year and is beyond the working age (55), unfit or not available for work and has less than $70 a month after allowing for rent and essential travelling expenses is, in general, eligible for assistance. Thus $70 a month plus an allowance for rent and essential travelling expenses represents the guaranteed level of income. For families, the equivalent level after allowing for rent, school expenses and essential travelling expenses is $50 for each of the first three members, $40 each for the next three and $30 thereafter. In addition, the Director of Social Welfare has dis- cretionary power to meet special needs such as a special diet or to preserve incentives. These, when exercised, can vary the level of assistance up or down. The way in which the scheme works is by comparing actual income with the guaranteed level; and where the former is less than the latter, the difference is made up by a monthly cash payment.
The effect of the expanded scheme has been to increase expendi- ture on public assistance payments in the nine months from April 1, to $8,524,542, compared with $6 million for the financial year 1970-1. The number of public assistance cases at the end of the year had risen to 12,553, compared with 7,010 last year. In 1971, 9,636 applications were received, resulting in 8,477 awards of assistance. Over 44,439 people were visited in their own homes and there were over 25,803 callers at field units. At the start of the expanded scheme, the number of new applications was lower than expected, but a vigorous publicity campaign to ensure that those eligible did apply for assistance, resulted in a continuous increase in applications up to the end of the year.
The scheme is administered on a decentralised basis and field units throughout the Colony deal with cases within their respective areas. Whenever an application is received, an officer from the unit visits the applicant at home to ensure that all the facts of the case are obtained and that any special needs are identified. When it has been decided if, and how much, assistance is payable a formal notification of the decision is sent to the applicant. Payment is then made by the cash order book. To cope with the regular increase in cases, five new field units-one each in Hong Kong and the New Territories and three in Kowloon-were set up during the year, making a total of 13.
EMERGENCY RELIEF
The worst natural disaster of the year was typhoon Rose in August. The total number of people killed during the typhoon was
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