Highlights of the Year 2019-20

Extending Old Age Living Allowance (OALA) To The Guangdong (GD) Scheme And Fujian (FJ) Scheme

SWD extended OALA to the GD Scheme and FJ Scheme with effect from 1 January 2020 to provide monthly Normal OALA or Higher OALA for eligible Hong Kong elderly persons.  To tie in with the extension of OALA to the GD Scheme and FJ Scheme, a special one-off arrangement has been put in place for the GD Scheme and FJ Scheme in the first year of its implementation under which, Hong Kong elderly persons who have resided in GD or FJ and have satisfied all other prescribed eligibility criteria can benefit from the GD Scheme or FJ Scheme without having to return to and stay in Hong Kong continuously for at least 1 year immediately before the date of application.

Provision Of Additional One-Off Assistance To Social Security Recipients

Having regard to the Government's fiscal position and the economic outlook, the Government provided 1 additional month of standard rate of CSSA payment for CSSA recipients and 1 additional month of allowance for OAA (including the GD Scheme and FJ Scheme), OALA and Disability Allowance (DA) recipients in June 2019.  In addition, to counter the challenging external and local economic environment, the Government announced on 15 August 2019 to carry out a package of measures to support enterprises, safeguard jobs and relieve people's financial burden.  One of the measures is to provide 1 additional month of standard rate of CSSA payment for CSSA recipients and 1 additional month of allowance for OAA (including the GD Scheme and FJ Scheme), OALA and DA recipients in January 2020.

Fraud Prevention

SWD continued its efforts to prevent and combat fraud and abuse of social security benefits.  To guard against duplicate claims, SWD has been closely co-operating with relevant government departments and organisations in conducting matching exercises.