Glitch delays old-age allowance payments to elderly
Some recipients of ‘fruit money’, who are eligible for the higher old-age allowance, have received a letter asking them to declare assets again
A problem in government computer records may mean some elderly residents eligible for the new old-age allowance will not receive the money next week as promised.
Meanwhile, thousands of people who received letters saying they could get the HK$2,200 handout have replied that they are no longer eligible.
People over the age of 65 who were eligible for the first phase of the Old Age Living Allowance scheme - those on record as having passed the means test for "fruit money" of HK$1,090 - were to have received a green notification letter in February, and were to start getting the new handout on April 5 that would replace the current allowance.
But Mui Sau-yin, 75, a recipient of fruit money since she was 65, got a yellow second-phase notification letter - which requires the elderly to declare their assets under the new means test.
"I don't understand why the government is sending me this letter when I have been receiving [fruit money] for so long," Mui said.
I don't understand why the government is sending me this letter when I have been receiving [fruit money] for so long
The Federation of Trade Unions said it was dealing with 15 such cases.