HONG KONG: The Labour and Welfare Bureau says there will be no "pay raise" this year for people receiving payments under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA). The bureau announced yesterday it will maintain current rates for assistance for another year.

The announcement raised immediate concerns among members of the Legislative Council, who argued the rates might be insufficient to help those in need.

"We will freeze the CSSA standard payment rates and rates of the Social Security Allowances for a period of 12 months effective from February 2010," said Deputy Secretary for Labour and Welfare Young Bick-kwan.

The rates are adjusted in accordance with the changes in the Social Security Assistance Index of Prices (SSAIP). The 12-month moving average of SSAIP up to the end of September dropped 0.7 percent year on year. The Bureau went on to predict a negative change up to the end of October 2009.

The annual adjustment mechanism came into question however. Legislators doubted the mechanism reflected rising rents and other costs.

Wong Sing-chi, a member of the Legislative Council, criticized what he called the lagging index upon which CSSA adjusts rates. He added, the system lacks a response mechanism for adjusting rates according to the current economic situation at any time.

Concerns also were raised about whether the level of CSSA standard payment rates is sufficient to meet even the basic needs of the social security recipients. Members believed that the rates determined more than 10 years ago are outdated. Legislator Frederick Fung Kin-kee indicated that the current rates did not take heed of needs for differing rates in different districts.

"The CSSA rates may not be able to catch up with rising prices if they are frozen," said professor Wong Hung, who studies poverty at the Social Work Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Social security recipients in Hong Kong are already living a difficult life. Some can afford only two meals a day during the last few days of every month, after they have paid for tutorial courses for kids, or if family members fall ill, he said.

Legislators also are pleading with the SAR government to define a poverty line so as to facilitate the drawing up of specific targets for alleviating poverty.

Legislator Cheung Kwok-che suggested the government set a target, for instance, helping a certain amount of poverty-stricken people over a specified period of time. "A line could help monitor changes of poverty conditions," said Wong Hung.

However, the government believed an income-based poverty line may not be helpful in formulating policies to alleviate poverty, said Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung. He emphasized considerable effort has been made to create more job opportunities; to provide training and retaining to middle-aged, low-income earners; and to reduce inter-generational poverty.

A total of 517,000 persons aged 0-59 were considered to be in poverty in 2008. Taking into account also the elderly poor, the number would rise to 714,900, according to the Labour and Welfare Bureau.

(HK Edition 11/10/2009 page1)