The Ombudsman yesterday hit out at the Social Welfare Department (SWD) for being lackadaisical in approving special grants to dole recipients, which resulted in abuse of the system and draining out resources.

Highlighting the cases of abuse in its report released yesterday, the Ombudsman said the "abandonment of common sense and lack of practical judgment" among staff in the department had wasted HK$49 million in 2007/08 fiscal year.

The department approves special grants to Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients for various purposes, such as paying medical expenses and replacement of essential household items in case of emergency.

In one case, a CSSA recipient had applied for grants to buy seven pairs of eye-glasses for short-sightedness between May 2004 and May 2007 on grounds of worsening of short-sightedness and damage of glasses.

Without investigating, the department granted the man HK$1,000 for each pair of glasses, which is much higher than the average of HK$530 it granted for eye-glasses in the past. Two pairs of the glasses are of luxury brand Gucci.

Ombudsman Alice Tai said the case is particularly ridiculous as it had come to light not because of the department's investigation, but after the recipient had filed a complaint to the Ombudsman against the SWD for verifying the eye-glasses quotation with the supplier.

The same recipient was also granted HK$6,400 for dental treatment on five occasions between May 2004 and June 2007, but he only sought treatment on the last occasion.

He also received a monthly rental allowance of HK$765, but defaulted on rent payment of a total of HK$7,650 for 10 months.

Some other recipients were found submitting forged rental receipts. The department failed to detect these cases in its periodic review. One of the cases, involving HK$11,000, was detected as the recipient had "inadvertently" submitted the real rental receipt to the department.

The Ombudsman also suggested putting a time limit to receiving dole after finding an able-bodied couple, with the husband aged 29 and the wife 26, has been living on dole for 10 years.

"It is questionable whether they would ever leave the safety net," the report said.

Tai urged the SWD staff to be more diligent in the vetting of applications for dole, and suggested that senior officers should look into dubious cases.

"The department has guidelines on approving grants. But it is the mindset of the staff that matters," she said.

Figures provided by the department revealed that there are 3,062 complaints regarding CSSA abuse this year. The number of deception leading to penalty has increased from 125 in 2005-06 to 251 in 2007-08.

"We have taken stringent action against deception by transferring suspected cases to police and prosecution. We believe this will be a deterrent," a department spokesman said.

The spokesman said the SWD has conducted a review of the cases in question and agreed that the staff should exercise due care in approving special grants.

But Tai stressed that the CSSA is a healthy system that provides help to those in need.

Polytechnic University social sciences lecturer Fernando Cheung pointed out that some of those depending on dole are drug addicts or have criminal records, making them difficult to get a job.

Social welfare sector legislator Peter Cheung said the government should provide job counseling to dole recipients.

(HK Edition 12/19/2008 page1)