TNAG-0608-FCO40-756-Planning-paper-on-progress-made-on-social-security-in-Hong-K-1977 — Page 131

C

X

- 9 -

supplement (in Chinese

). The long term

supplement would be payable to a family or single person who

had been receiving public assistance for more than 18 months,

apart from the able-bodied.

Public assistance is payable to those with low earnings and

to the unemployed. It is not however, desirable that the

Government should appear to be encouraging such persons to be

relying unnecessarily on public assistance when they could be

self-supporting. Accordingly, it is proposed that the long

term supplement should not be payable to a person of working

age (15

60) who was fit and available for work: or to a

family in which there was such a family member The amount

payable to a family would be equal to the amount of the scale

allowance for a single person (currently $180 a month); and

half that amount for a single person. It might appear to be

more logical for the amount of the long term supplement to

vary with the size of the family. But this is not proposed:

partly for simplicity but more because household costs like

to replacement of household goods (as opposed, everyday living

costs) do not vary so much as between different sizes of

families and because larger sums would probably bring the

1

amount of assistance payable to a family too close to wage

rates. The fact that a long term supplement was being raid

would not rule out discretionary grants for non-household

needs like special diets but it would reduce, if not largely

eliminate, the number of discretionary grants to meet house-

hold needs.

18.

Yore encouragement to self-help. Apart from one or

two specified exceptions, all incone is taken fully into

account when assessing the need for public assistance, and no

proposal is made to alter this general position. A system of