This year’s policy address includes a boost for many recipients of the government’s Old Age Living Allowance (OALA), with those currently missing out on a higher rate to get an extra HK$1,000 a month from the second half of next year.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced that the “normal” and “higher” OALA payments will be combined into one subsidy, with everybody assessed using the more lenient of the two existing sets of eligibility criteria.
The higher rate is currently HK$3,815 per month, with the lower rate at HK$2,845.
Lam first proposed the change to the subsidy at the start of last year, but the government subsequently said the move had to be assessed because of its “major financial implications”.