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Following is a question by Hon Alice Mak and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (April 24):
Question:
Elderly persons who are currently receiving or have previously received Normal Old Age Allowance (Normal OAA) are all eligible for receiving Old Age Living Allowance (OALA) introduced this month. The Social Welfare Department (SWD) issued green notification letters to them in late February to enable them to receive OALA through Phase One "Auto-conversion". I have recently received quite a number of complaints from these elderly persons that they had waited for a long time but had not yet received the green notification letters. SWD explained that the situation was due to the fact that some old data had not been transferred to the current computer system. In addition, some elderly persons have indicated that they encountered difficulties in making enquiries through the OALA hotline or with SWD's front-line staff. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of elderly persons currently receiving OAA who are unable to receive OALA through the "Auto-conversion" procedure; among them, the respective numbers of elderly persons who are currently receiving (i) Normal OAA (for application by the elderly aged 65 to 69), (ii) Higher OAA (for application by the elderly aged 70 or above) but have never received Normal OAA, and (iii) Higher OAA and have previously received Normal OAA;
(b) for how long, as estimated by SWD, elderly persons applying for OALA through Phase Two "Postal Submission" will lag behind those elderly persons under Phase One in receiving the allowance;
(c) of the respective numbers of enquiries and requests for assistance received by the authorities to date since the OALA hotline came into operation in October last year; of the average number of enquiry calls received each day; among them, the total number of cases involving requests for assistance concerning elderly persons not receiving the green notification letters and how SWD follows up such cases;
(d) of the respective numbers and hours of training or briefing sessions on OALA provided by SWD to its frontline staff to date since the announcement of the introduction of OALA in July last year, and of the number of staff members who had participated in such sessions; whether SWD has completed the recruitment for the additional staff required for the implementation of the OALA Scheme; whether those staff have reported for duty;
(e) how SWD will handle cases involving elderly persons who did not receive OALA due to various delays caused by SWD and passed away during the waiting period; and
(f) whether SWD will expeditiously put forward concrete improvement measures (e.g. reviewing the information management of its computer system, increasing frontline manpower, strengthening training and enhancing publicity targeted at elderly persons), so as to minimise the possibility of making mistakes in the payment of OALA; if it will, of the details of the measures?
Reply:
President,
OALA aims to supplement the living expenses of Hong Kong elderly persons aged 65 or above who are in need of financial support. Subject to a simple declaration on their financial means, eligible elderly persons will receive a monthly allowance of $2,200. The Administration has devised a set of simplified application procedures to enable elderly persons to receive OALA as early as possible. It is rolled out in three phases, namely "Auto-conversion", "Postal Submission" and "New Application". Various types of elderly persons can receive OALA through the relevant arrangements.
My reply to the question raised by the Hon Alice Mak is as follows:
(a) Elderly persons who are covered under Phase 1 - "Auto-conversion" arrangement include in principle those aged 65 to 69 receiving Normal OAA before the implementation of OALA, and those aged 70 or above currently receiving Higher OAA and having received Normal OAA at the age 65 to 69. SWD issued 287 701 green notification letters on February 25, 2013 to inform the elderly persons concerned about the "Auto-conversion" arrangement.
(i) Eligible elderly persons aged 65 to 69 receiving Normal OAA before the implementation of OALA have largely switched to receive OALA under the "Auto-conversion" arrangement.
(ii) Higher OAA recipients aged 70 or above who have not received Normal OAA at the age of 65 to 69 are under Phase 2 - "Postal Submission" arrangement. SWD issued yellow notification letters on March 25, 2013 to inform them about the "Postal Submission" arrangement.
(iii) Higher OAA recipients aged 70 or above having received Normal OAA at the age of 65 to 69 were supposed to be included under Phase 1 - "Auto-conversion" arrangement. SWD's current Computerised Social Security System (CSSS) commenced its operation in 2000. For a small portion of Higher OAA recipients, while their Higher OAA data had been transferred to the CSSS, the old data related to their receipt of Normal OAA was not. Thus, some existing Higher OAA recipients aged 70 or above who had received Normal OAA before were not included in the "Auto-conversion" arrangement. If the income/asset records of the recipients in the CSSS exceeded the prescribed limits, they were also excluded from the "Auto-conversion" arrangement. The above-mentioned elderly persons will be processed under Phase 2 - "Postal Submission". SWD issued yellow notification letters on March 25, 2013 to inform them about the "Postal Submission" arrangement. Eligible elderly persons who complete the "postal submission application forms" and return to SWD on or before December 31, 2013 will receive OALA payment dating back to December 1, 2012 at the earliest. SWD has not kept records of the number of elderly persons concerned.
(b) SWD has set up a "Centralised Team" to handle applications through "Postal submission". Upon receipt of application forms, the "Centralised Team" will verify the eligibility of the elderly persons as soon as possible.
(c) SWD has set up a hotline for OALA enquiries and the hotline number is 3595 0130 (10 lines). This hotline has been in operation since October 19, 2012, providing services from 8.45am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. From March 7, 2013 onwards, a total of 15 lines for the OALA hotline have been installed with additional staff deployed to handle the telephone enquiries on OALA.
Since March 8, 2013, the 24-hour OALA Hotline 3142 2202 has also been in operation to enhance the hotline services. This hotline, manned by 1823 of the Efficiency Unit, has assisted in responding to general and simple enquiries on OALA.
As at April 9, 2013, SWD's OALA hotline 3595 0130 received 57 351 enquiry calls, with a daily average of about 700 calls at present. For the 24-hour OALA Hotline 3142 2202 operated since March 8, 15 780 enquiry calls were received (as at April 9), with a daily average of about 500 calls.
Owing to the large number and wide range of enquiries received, SWD has not kept any analytical data on the hotline enquires. The number of enquiries about not having received the green notification letters is not available. When such enquiries are received, SWD staff will provide assistance as appropriate.
(d) Before the implementation of OALA, SWD conducted two briefings, each lasting for around three hours, to about 400 Social Security grade officers. The briefing sessions aimed to provide staff with the necessary information through explaining to them the implementation details and procedures of OALA and issuing the operational guidelines for their reference. In addition, SWD has provided the latest information and frequently asked questions about OALA to the frontline staff so as to facilitate their handling of public enquiries. Internal hotlines have also been set up to answer enquiries from the frontline staff on the operational details of OALA.
SWD would create a total of about 100 additional posts (including time-limited posts) for preparation and implementation of OALA. Under an expedited recruitment procedure, SWD has completed the recruitment exercises and enhanced the manpower of the frontline Social Security Field Units and the "Centralised Team". Eighty percent of the additional manpower have commenced service and the remaining manpower will report for duty in May 2013.
(e) After the launching of OALA in April 2013, SWD will process the applications received as soon as possible. In the event that an elderly person passed away after having submitted an application and having their eligibility for OALA established before death, SWD will arrange his/her allowance entitlements as estates.
(f) In January 2013, SWD held large briefing sessions to District Elderly Community Centres and Neighbourhood Elderly Centres. SWD also conducted 90 briefings to district organisations and stakeholders through District Social Welfare Offices. The briefings aimed to explain the application arrangements of OALA to the relevant organisations, stakeholders and elderly persons and to answer their enquiries.
To inform elderly persons of the relevant application dates and procedures, SWD has printed leaflets and posters, and produced three versions of TV Announcements in the Public Interest (APIs) and Radio APIs for broadcast to tie in with the rolling out of the three phases of OALA. Relevant information has also been uploaded onto SWD's website: www.swd.gov.hk/oala.
SWD will continue to organise various training courses to the Social Security staff to help them acquire relevant knowledge and skills. SWD will also regularly review and update the training programmes to meet the new services demand and training needs of the staff. In addition, SWD is currently conducting the renewal of CSSS to enhance service quality.
Ends/Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Issued at HKT 16:16
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