Elderly couple lament Hong Kong’s strict criteria to get financial help in old age after city budget unveiled

Mrs Mak, 84, and Mr Wat, 87, live a frugal life together in their flat bought in the 1970s in Hong Kong’s Tai Kok Tsui neighbourhood. 

They were happy with an extra two months’ worth of Old Age Allowance promised by Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po in his second budget. However, they said the one-off sweetener would not change their living standards much. 

They called on the government to raise the standard rate of the allowance and remove all means testing for elderly subsidies.

The couple worked until they were in their mid-70s, and didn’t acquire huge savings in that time from their jobs, which were low paid and unstable. They now have to rely on the government’s Old Age Allowance of HK$1,290 per person per month. 

Taking into account about HK$2,000 their only son gives them, the couple have about HK$5,000 monthly to cover all their basic needs.

They failed the means tests required for another subsidy with a higher individual rate – the Old Age Living Allowance of HK$2,600 per month. An eligible married couple must have a monthly income lower than HK$12,770 and assets valued below HK$506,000.

“We have to be very frugal. I am wearing clothes bought decades ago ... and sometimes I buy fruit barely edible from supermarkets because it is on sale,” Mak said.