Working Family Allowance Scheme

The Low-income Working Family Allowance (LIFA) Scheme is renamed as the “Working Family Allowance” (WFA) Scheme on 1 April 2018 and enhancements to the Scheme are implemented.

The WFA Scheme aims at encouraging self-reliance and easing inter-generational poverty. Applications for WFA are made on a household basis and tied to employment and working hours. The claim period of an application covers the immediate past six calendar months before the submission of the application.

WFA comprises Basic Allowance, Medium Allowance or Higher Allowance. Each eligible child may also be granted a Child Allowance. Depending on the household income, the allowances may be granted at full rate, 3/4 rate or half rate.

Key parameters of the WFA Scheme are as follows:

Each eligible child in a household eligible for WFA, be it a single-parent or non-single-parent household, may receive Child Allowance under the WFA Scheme. Eligible children must be aged below 15, or aged between 15 and 21 receiving full-time education (but not post-secondary education).

The applicant needs to submit one application only. There is no need for a separate application for Child Allowance.

If the household is not eligible for the working hour-linked allowance under WFA in individual month(s), the household will not be eligible to apply for and will not be granted Child Allowance for the month(s) concerned.

The claim period of an application covers the immediate past six calendar months before the submission of the application. An eligible household has to submit an application for every six-calendar-month claim period. The claim periods cannot overlap. The allowance is calculated on a monthly basis. The household is granted the allowance for each month in which the eligibility criteria are met.

The applicant should submit a completed and signed application form together with documentary proof of working hours, household income, assets, etc. In the event that some documentary proof for application is not available by the application deadline, the applicant has to report such on the application form and submit the application form and available documentary proof by the application deadline. Missing documentary proof has to be submitted when it is available.

1: By e-submission service
The applicant may submit an online application and upload documentary proof(s) through e-submission service (https://eservices.wfsfaa.gov.hk/wfa/en/).

For enquiries on the e-submission service, the applicant can contact the Working Family Allowance Office hotline at (852) 2558 3000.

2: By paper-based form
The applicant may submit a completed paper-based application form together with documentary proof of working hours, household income and assets, etc. in a specially-designed envelope or a self-prepared envelope with sufficient postage affixed by post to PO Box No. 62600 of the Kwun Tong Post Office. The applicant may also use the Drop-in Boxes located at the Working Family Allowance Office or other government departments.

Please go to this webpage for further information on submission of applications.

The claim period of an application covers the immediate past six calendar months before the submission of the application. For example, application for the period from January to June needs to be submitted within the period from 1 to 31 July of that year. For applications sent by post, the postmark date on the envelope will be regarded as the date of submission of application. Late applications or applications with invalid claim periods will normally not be accepted. For details, please press here.

The WFA Scheme is an on-going scheme which is not subject to a time limit. Each application covers the immediate past six calendar months before the submission of the application. An eligible household has to submit an application for every six-calendar-month claim period. The claim periods cannot overlap. For those households whose applications have been approved, we will provide them with paper-based prefilled application forms or E-prefilled forms which contain some basic information of the households so as to help the applicants submit next applications.

The claim period of an application must cover the immediate past six calendar months before the submission of the application. The applicant can provide information on all or individual month(s) in the past six calendar months. The Working Family Allowance Office will vet, on a monthly basis, whether the household is eligible for WFA for individual month(s) on the basis of the information provided by the applicant. WFA will not be granted for the month(s) on which information is not available.

Applicants will be notified of the application results in writing after completion of the application vetting and any allowance approved will be credited directly to the applicants’ bank accounts.

Under the WFA Scheme, a single parent usually refers to a person whose marital status is never married, divorced, widowed or separated and living with at least one child aged below 15. To qualify for WFA using the lower working hour requirements, the single parent must be a working applicant.

If there is any change in the household composition, the applicant should report clearly the change and the date of change. In the month where there is a change in the number of persons, the larger number of household members will be counted. For instance, if a baby was born in the middle of the month, the number of household members will increase by one in that month.

The WFA Scheme aims at alleviating the financial pressure of low-income working households living in Hong Kong. The Scheme has no requirement on the length of residence in Hong Kong of the household members applying for WFA. New arrivals may also apply for WFA or be counted as household member(s). However, the WFA Scheme does not cover Hong Kong non‐permanent residents who have been admitted to Hong Kong to work, study or receive training and their dependents, and individuals who have entered Hong Kong as visitors.

For cross-boundary students who attend schools in Hong Kong but are not living in Hong Kong, they are not eligible to apply for WFA and will not be granted Child Allowance.

People who live outside Hong Kong would not be eligible for WFA.

For information regarding the income and asset limits of WFA, please press here。

The household applying for WFA can report the household assets valued at the last month of the claim period and make a declaration that the asset values of other months all meet the asset limits of the Scheme. The Working Family Allowance Office will ask the household to provide details of assets and documentary proof for detailed consideration if necessary.

The household income needs to be reported on a monthly basis. The applicant and all household members have to report all employment income and other income within and outside Hong Kong for each month of the claim period.

As a general rule, an employed person can submit a copy of documentary proof showing employment income including pay slips, salary receipts, employment contracts, bank statements or passbooks, employer’s certificates of income etc.

If an applicant has difficulty in providing documentary proof of employment income (e.g. having unsteady work, no regular employer or the company in which the applicant worked has wound up), the applicant may provide a self-declared statement. Applicant may use supplementary form "Statement on Work of Casual Workers and Self-employed Persons Who are Unable to Provide a Profit and Loss Accounting Statement" (WFA007B) for making self-declaration.

Alimony is counted as household income.

Double pay, year-end payment / bonus, severance payment and long service payment will not be counted as household income. They are counted as household assets if they remain unspent.

The cash values and dividends of insurance policies are counted as household assets.

The loan under the 100% Personal Loan Guarantee Scheme is not counted as household income.

The loan is exempted from counting as household assets for 12 months from the month in which the household receives the loan. Thereafter, any unspent amount is counted as household assets.

The consumption voucher is not counted as household income.

The consumption voucher is exempted from counting as household assets for 12 months from the month in which the household receives the voucher. Thereafter, any unspent amount is counted as household assets.

All allowances are not counted as household income.

The exemption arrangement of allowances under asset test is as follows:

(1) Eligible Tenants - Opting for moving back to the Estate upon redevelopment, making own arrangement on interim rehousing or assisted by Social Service Team of the Estate to apply for renting transitional housing flat

The Rental Allowance and the Removal Allowance are exempted from counting as household assets from the month in which the household receives the allowances up to 31.3.2029. Thereafter, any unspent amount is counted as household assets.

(2) Eligible Tenants - Opting for moving out permanently

The One-off Allowance and the Removal Allowance are exempted from counting as household assets for six months from the month in which the household receives the allowances. Thereafter, any unspent amount is counted as household assets.

When applying for the WFA Scheme, the applicant may report the working hours of more than one job in the same month. The working hours of all household members are aggregated under the Scheme.

Working hours include:

• Hours of paid work performed by the applicant/household members (employed or self-employed)
• Hours of paid work performed by household members (employed or self-employed) whose working hours are aggregated
• Hours derived from paid holidays and absence such as sick leave and maternity leave

Unpaid working hours are not included.

Employed persons can provide documentary proof showing their working hours, including employment contracts, appointment letters, attendance records, attendance cards, as well as employer’s certificate of working hours. Under special circumstances, such as when the company in which the applicant worked has wound up or the applicant has no regular employer, the applicant may report the working hours by providing a self-declared statement. Applicant may use supplementary form "Statement on Work of Casual Workers and self-employed Persons Who are Unable to Provide a Profit and Loss Accounting Statement" (WFA007B) for self-declaration.

The working hours of household member(s), regardless of whether the working hours are from full-time or part-time jobs, are counted as working hours under the WFA Scheme.

Employed persons, including casual workers, can provide documentary proof showing their working hours, including attendance records, attendance cards, as well as certificate of working hours provided by the employer. If the applicant is unable to submit the said documentary proof due to special reason(s), they may fill in the "Statement on Work of Casual Workers and Self-employed Persons Who are Unable to Provide a Profit and Loss Accounting Statement" (WFA007B) for consideration by the Working Family Allowance Office.

The freelancers or self-employed applicants can report to the Working Family Allowance Office their working hours based on their actual working situation. They can also provide copies of documentary proof showing income of self-employment and expenses (if any), such as Notices of Personal Assessment issued by the Inland Revenue Department or profit and loss accounting statements verified by certified public accountants or work-related documentary proof, e.g. the receipts or bank account records for service charge, the receipts of the expenses, certificates or licenses, etc. Having regard to the circumstances of individual cases, the Working Family Allowance Office will consider relevant documentary proof or request more supplementary information or documents. Casual workers or self-employed persons providing services who have practical difficulty in providing the documentary proof of working hours or income from work may fill in the "Statement on Work of Casual Workers and Self-employed Persons Who are Unable to Provide a Profit and Loss Accounting Statement" (WFA007B).

The working hours of all household members are aggregated under the WFA Scheme. If the aggregated monthly working hours of the applicant and his / her household member(s) are 144 hours or above (36 hours or above for single-parent household) in particular month(s) in the claim period, the household can submit the application. There is no restriction under the WFA Scheme that the applicant must be the one reporting working hours for WFA application.

The household members may apply for or continue to receive the Disability Allowance, School Textbook Assistance, Student Travel Subsidy, and Subsidy for Internet Access Charges. Those allowances will not be counted as household income under the WFA Scheme.

Starting from 1 April 2019, WFA is excluded from the calculation of public rental housing applicants’ income. Public rental housing applicants should make enquiries with the Housing Department as to matters relating to their applications.

The applicant may click the green button “Login with iAM Smart” on the Landing page of e-submission service, then use the mobile phone which has registered iAM Smart for authentication to log in the e-submission service.

The applicant can submit documentary proof for an online application such as address proof, proof of identity, proof of bank account for receiving the allowance, proof of working hours and income etc. at the time of form filling by uploading them into the designated boxes in the e-form. File types of the documents should be JPG, PNG, JPEG, GIF, DOC, DOCX or PDF. The total size of the documentary proof for each submission must not exceed 40MB.

In the event that total size of the documents that the applicant wishes to attach exceeds the maximum limit, or some documentary proof is not available at the time of submission of application, the applicant may submit the documents, after online submission of the application and obtaining a transaction reference number, and by several times if necessary. Please refer to the following methods for submission of documentary proof:

- For the applicant using iAM Smart, he/she may select the transaction reference number/ application number of the relevant application on the Home page after logging in the account, then click “Submit documents/Amend application information” to start uploading and submitting documentary proof. If the applicant submitted a paper-based application, he/she can also submit documentary proof online by this method. (only applicable to applications under processing)

- For the applicant without iAM Smart account, he/she may click “Submit Signed Declaration and/or Supplementary Documents” on the Landing page of e-submission service, then upload and submit the documentary proof after providing the transaction reference number of the relevant application, name in English and Hong Kong Identity Card number.

Digital signing by iAM Smart is only applicable to the applicants who have already registered iAM Smart+. The applicant may choose to register iAM Smart+ or upgrade his/her iAM Smart to iAM Smart+. The registration/upgrade method can be found on iAM Smart website.

If the applicant wishes to digitally sign by iAM Smart+ for online application, he/she may select “Sign by iAM Smart+” and then click the green button “Signing with iAM Smart” in the signature part of online application. Then, use the mobile phone which has registered iAM Smart+ for authentication to complete the digital signing. After digital signing, please remember to click “Submit” to complete the submission of online application.

The Working Family Allowance Office encourages applicants to register and use iAM Smart+ to digitally sign the applications. The Applicant does not need to print, manually sign and submit the signed declaration, which is more convenient and environmentally friendly.

The applicant without iAM Smart+ or e-Cert needs to print and sign the declaration. He/she may download and print the declaration page for signature after online submission of application. The signed declaration may be sent to the Working Family Allowance Office online through the uploading function, by post, by hand or using the Working Family Allowance Office’s drop-in boxes. The transaction reference number of the relevant application, applicant’s name in English and Hong Kong Identity Card number should be provided for online submission during the process (the applicant who uses iAM Smart account to log in e-submission service does not need to provide the above information). To submit the signed declaration by other means, please provide the transaction reference number for identification.

When the applicant has successfully submitted an online application, the “Acknowledgement” page with the wording “Submission Successful” will be displayed immediately. The information of “Submission Date and Time” and “Transaction Reference Number” will also be shown on the same page. The system will also send an Acknowledgement of Submission to the relevant e-mail address if it has been provided by the applicant. After receiving the online application, the Working Family Allowance Office will issue an application acknowledgement by SMS or mail within 10 days with a WFA application number provided.

For enquiries about the application, the applicant may view the relevant application number, application status, application result (if applicable), etc on the e-submission service through his/her iAM Smart account, or contact the Working Family Allowance Office at tel. no. (852) 2558 3000 by quoting the Transaction Reference Number and Submission Date and Time.

The applicant using iAM Smart can select the concerned application on the Home page after logging in the e-submission service, and then select the tab “Message” for viewing message(s) related to the application or the tab “Letter” for viewing and downloading electronic letter related to the application on the “Application Details” page. (If there is no message/ electronic letter available for such application, the related tab will not be displayed on the page)