'Failure not final' in jobless aid

Thousands of jobless residents who failed to qualify for the HK$10,000 temporary unemployment subsidy will have their cases reviewed and may eventually get the cash.

Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office head Doris Ho Pui-ling said some applicants - around 20 percent - failed to qualify for the scheme because they had been unemployed for less than 30 days or had taken on freelance jobs.

However, Ho added, authorities are keeping these cases on file for further review.

Further, some 10 percent of applicants were rejected after they failed to meet major requirements.

Among them are those who earned more than HK$30,000 a month or those who weren't working in premises designated for closure under anti-epidemic measures.

Some 70 percent of the 60,000 approved applicants will receive the one-off HK$10,000 payment within the week, Ho said.

The government earlier said residents must meet certain requirements to qualify for the scheme, including having worked for at least one month between October 1 and December 31.

Ho stressed that applicants must be unemployed at the time of application.

For instance, she said, barbers are no longer eligible as hair salons reopened on March 10.

The first batch of successful applicants were notified by email or SMS on Friday. Those who are not eligible for the scheme will be notified after the application period ends today while the remaining applications will be on review.

Ho reassured the public that the applications on review will be given as much leniency as possible.

She also advised applicants to check the progress of their application on the scheme's official website, adding that unsuccessful applicants can email enquiry@tur.gov.hk should they have any queries.

Further, rejected applicants who wish to submit their applications for review may do so but they will be required to hand in additional supporting documents.

So far, there have been no cases of fraud found among the scheme's applicants.