Hong Kong to send welfare cash to retirees’ mainland Chinese bank accounts from July

Hong Kong will allow elderly welfare recipients retiring in Guangdong and Fujian to have cash assistance directly sent to their mainland Chinese bank accounts from July as part of a much-awaited arrangement, the city’s leader has said.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced the coming scheme launch in a social media post on Wednesday during a visit to Fujian, where he met elderly Hong Kong residents living in the province at a tea party.
He said the new service would “further facilitate the elderly in receiving their allowances for a more secure retired life”.
The measure was announced in last year’s policy address and led to the signing of memorandums of understanding between the Social Welfare Department and the Bank of China (Hong Kong) and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) in November.
Under the arrangement, Hong Kong elderly recipients retiring in Guangdong and Fujian can have their portable cash assistance paid directly into their mainland bank accounts with either of the two banks.

The covered welfare payments include Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) under the “Portable CSSA Scheme”, as well as the Old Age Living Allowance and the Old Age Allowance under the Social Security Allowance Scheme’s Guangdong and Fujian measures.
According to the Social Welfare Department’s website, applicants for the Portable CSSA Scheme must be Hong Kong permanent residents aged 65 or above who have lived in the city for at least seven years, passed the CSSA means test, and received CSSA continuously for at least one year before applying.
They are also required to declare the date they are moving to take up permanent residence in Fujian and Guangdong within three months of applying.
Public rental housing tenants must surrender their flats or remove their names from the tenancy before leaving Hong Kong.
The Guangdong and Fujian schemes are non-contributory and cover two types of allowances.
The first is the Old Age Allowance, also known as “fruit money”, which pays HK$1,675 (US$214) per month to residents aged 70 or above on a non-means-tested basis, while the second is the Old Age Living Allowance, which pays HK$4,345 per month to those aged 65 or above who meet means-testing requirements.
Recipients must spend at least 60 days in their respective province each payment year to qualify for the full annual allowance, according to the department.