Social welfare recipients to get one-off additional payment

    The Social Welfare Department will make a one-off additional payment to recipients of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA), and recipients of Disability Allowance (DA) and Old Age Allowance (OAA) of Social Security Allowance (SSA) on June 16, 2008.

    A department spokesman said today (June 13) that the Financial Secretary announced in his 2008-09 Budget speech a series of measures to help the disadvantaged and one of them was to provide one additional month of the standard rate for CSSA recipients, one additional month of allowance for DA recipients, and a one-off grant of $3,000 for OAA recipients. 
   
    The Finance Committee of the Legislative Council approved a financial allocation of $2.7 billion on May 16 for implementing the measure.
   
    The amount of one-off additional payment for CSSA recipients is equivalent to the individual recipient's or family member's standard rate according to different categories of recipients (such as elderly persons, children or able-bodied adults) under the CSSA Scheme.  The amount of one-off payment for DA recipients is equivalent to one month's DA and the amount for OAA recipients is $3,000.

    Welfare recipients are not required to make application for the one-off additional payment.  The money will be paid to them on June 16 through the existing CSSA or SSA payment method, that is, normally through bank payment credited to the designated bank account.

    For enquiries, welfare recipients can call the Social Welfare Department's hotline 2343 2255 or their respective social security field units.

Ends

June 13, 2008