XN000022-1995-07-12 — Page 59

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Old age allowance

Following is a question by the Hon Andrew Wong and a reply by the Secretary for Health and Welfare, Mrs Katherine Fok, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

At present, old age allowance applicants must have resided in the territory for at least 5 years within the period starting from 5 years immediately before the attainment of the qualifying age to the date of application, and absence from the territory during the 5-year period immediately before application must not exceed 280 days. According to cases handled by me, there have been some cases in which applications for the old age allowance made by senior citizens who have resided in the territory for decades were rejected simply because the applicants were intermittently absent from the territory for slightly more than 280 days during the 5-year period immediately prior to the date of application. In view of this, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)

(b)

(c)

of the total number of applications which were rejected by the Social Welfare Department in the past 5 years on the grounds that the residence requirement was not met;

of the reasons for using 280 days as the benchmark for residence calculation; and

whether the existing practice which lacks flexibility will be reviewed with a view to relaxing the 280-day limit for absence from the territory. or changing the residency requirement to one which requires an applicant "to be an ordinary resident in Hong Kong" for 5 years prior to the date of application, so that each case can be dealt with on its own merits?