1.Purposes

1. to reflect the problem of manpower shortage in the Social Security Assistant (SSA) grade;

2. to examine the effect of manpower shortage on the quality of social security services; and

3. to suggest solutions to this problem.

2.Social Security Assistant (SSA) grade

The SSA grade, comprising the Senior SSA and SSA ranks, is responsible for processing applications for:

1. Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA)

2. Old age allowance

3. Disability allowance

4. Fee Assistance under the Child Care Centre Fee Assistance (CCCFA) Scheme

5. Emergency Relief Services

6. Criminal and Law Enforcement Injuries Compensation

7. Traffic Accident Victims Assistance

Being deployed to work in the 33 Social Security Field Units (SSFU) in the territory, the majority of staff members in the grade is responsible for handling various types of cases falling into categories (a) to (e). We would like to focus our discussion on the shortage of manpower in SSFUs.

3.Manning Standards Review

In order to enhance the quality of social security services, the Social Welfare Department (the Department) has, since April 1996, been implementing the recommendations contained in the Manning Standards Review compiled by the Management Services Agency (MSA). The major recommendations of the Review are set out as follows:

1. to devise a new manning formula - a contracting mechanism whereby the time required for each work procedure is expressed in terms of minutes.

2. to adopt a diversion approach whereby the duties are re-defined to enhance the efficiency.

3. to increase the number of service items and to enhance the quality thereof.

Subject to the provision of sufficient staff resources, we support these major recommendations in principle.

4.Relevant Figures

1. The numbers of various types of cases in 1997 as at 30 November 1997:

   	number of applications	number of approved cases
   CSSA payment	78,421	182,083
   Disability allowance	12,528	74,539
   Old age allowance	55,002	438,625
   CCCFA Scheme	14,689	---------

2. Respective increases in caseload and in the number of staff establishment:

   CSSA cases	: July 96	147,476	Staff establishment of the grade	: August 96	728
   	July 97	177,135		August 97	784
   		(up 20%)			(up 7.7%)

5.The Staffing Position in SSFUs

1. Senior SSA Rank

   	1.12.97	1.10.97	1.4.97	1.12.96
   Number of staff required	465	456	404	383
   Establishment at the time	364	364	349	349
   Staff deficit	-101	-92	-55	-34
   Shortfall %	27.75%	25.27%	15.76%	9.74%

2. SSA Rank

   	1.12.97	1.10.97	1.4.97	1.12.96
   Number of staff required	447	442	427	420
   Establishment at the time	420	420	405	405
   Staff deficit	-(27+26*)	-22	-22	-15
   Shortfall %	12.62%	5.23%	5.43%	3.70%

   * 26 vacancies arise from staff acting up posts of higher rank

6.Reasons for Continued Increase in CSSA caseload

1. ageing population;

2. increase in the number of new arrivals;

3. decline or northbound movement of individual industries;

4. downturn of economy;

5. changing concept in receiving social assistance;

6. f improvement in the level of welfare assistance; and

7. increased campaigning activities and enhanced transparency.

7.Actions Taken by the SSA Grade Staff in the Face of an Understaffed Situation

1. In a bid to clear the backlog, SSA grade staff has been taking the initiative to work overtime frequently even without the granting of overtime allowance, yet no improvement can be made.

2. Regular negotiations have been held with the Department for a prolonged period in the hope of finding solutions.

3. Letters were sent to the Secretary for Health and Welfare, the Secretary for the Civil Service and the Director of Social Welfare in July 1997 to express our grievances. Requests were stated in the letters for a meeting to be held with the Health and Welfare Bureau (HWB) regarding the manpower shortage situation. Notification was given that industrial action might be taken by our staff members on 1 August 1997.

4. At the meeting with the Deputy Director of Social Welfare (Administration) on 31 July 1997, a consensus was reached that we would postpone the industrial action.

5. The industrial action was postponed until late October when Policy Address 1997 would have been announced. We had been expecting for a meeting to be held with the HWB to discuss over our possible action of writing to the Chief Executive, Mr TUNG Chee-hwa, to reflect the situation on 25 November 1997.

6. A letter to all Honourable Members of the Provisional Legislative Council was sent on 27 November 1997.

7. A press release was sent to the media on 5 December 1997.

8. A demonstration was held at the Office of the Chief Executive on 14 December 1997. We presented a petition and read out a letter addressed to the whole community of Hong Kong.

8.The Department's Approach in Tackling the Problem

1. The major strategy employed by the Department is to streamline certain working procedures, such as suspending the home visits to 90% of cases and allowing the payment to CSSA elderly cases to be extended automatically, in a bid to reduce the number of staff required.

2. Only a small number of additional posts were created due to insufficient resources.

9.The Effect of Insufficient Staffing on Social Security Services

1. Most of the new applications and the approved cases were affected, such as lengthened processing time and deterioration in service quality.

2. As at 30 November 1997, a backlog of 3 332 applications for CSSA has been accumulated.

3. The work easement measures by the SWD failed to take into account the welfare needs of the recipients.

4. The number of fraud cases has been on the rise.

5. The number of overpayment cases has been on the rise.

10.Pledges by the Government

1. In Policy Address 1996, the Government pledged to provide more speedy and effective assistance to CSSA applicants. However, in Progress Report 1997, the Government admitted that resources for 29 additional posts had been redeployed to meet other priorities.

2. In Policy Address 1997, the Government pledged to provide "quality services" in 1998/99 and to create about 100 additional posts (other grades included).

11.Causes of Dissatisfaction among SSA grade staff

1. We wrote to the Department on 28 March 1996 to put forth our views regarding the Manpower Standards Review. We stated in our letter that it was imperative for sufficient manpower to be provided if the recommendations as contained in the Review were to be successfully implemented.

2. The management, not appreciating the hard work done by our staff members, emphasizes only the output figures but not the quality of services. Such an approach has put our staff members under prolonged work pressure.

3. The officials in the HWB did not accede to our request for a meeting to be held with them to discuss the issue. (refer to para. 7c)

4. The low staff morale prevailing in our grade has caused us to lose confidence in the Department.

5. The staff establishments in some of the SSFUs are unfair.

6. The supervisors always abuse their discretionary power. The requests of those who make frequent complaints are often acceded to.

12.Short-term Solutions

1. The PLC Panel on Welfare Services could play a direct monitoring role in the provision of social security services, such as monitoring the application for and the use of resources.

2. The Government should make speedy allocation of additional resources to the Department to solve the problem of insufficient resources.

3. After acquiring new resources and creating sufficient posts, the Department should immediately abolish the work easement measures. Also, overtime allowance should be granted to the staff to clear the backlog cases.

13.Long-term Solutions

1. To re-examine the Ordinances governing the payment of welfare assistance and allowances to suit our present-day social needs. In particular, measures should be introduced to prevent fraud cases and to encourage the spirit of self-help.

2. At present, the manning level is determined in accordance with the number of cases recorded in the past. Such a method of calculation cannot cope with changing social needs, in particular when the number of cases is rocketing. As a result, the manning level can never catch up with the caseload, thereby causing the quality of services to continue deteriorating. We mentioned in our letter to the Department dated 28 March 1996 (para. 11a) that an additional percentage should be added to the determined manning level, so as to take into account the factor of changing social needs.

3. For the purpose of preventing fraud and abuse cases, a Special Investigation Team should be set up in each SWD district.

14.Supplementary Information

1. The Department admitted in its restricted documents that there were cases which were handled with some degree of delay.

2. Since all CSSA cases involve the work procedures to be performed by Senior SSAs, it is inappropriate to combine the staff shortfall of the two ranks and then work out an average figure.

3. Although 198 posts (other grades included) had been created by the Department in 1997, these posts cannot offset the additional staffing requirements arising from the increase in caseload in 1996/97.

4. Whilst the Government promised to create 100 additional posts in 1998/99, even if all such posts can be successfully created in April 1998, the current staff shortfall still cannot be fully met.

15.Conclusions

The provision of quality, efficient and proper social security services is conducive to enhancing social stability, instilling a sense of belonging to society and recognizing the contribution of the elderly to our society. The provision of sufficient staff and the exercising of proper management are two of the primary and necessary factors for such an aim to be achieved.

(chop affixed)
Social Security Assistants’ Branch
Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants’ Association

7 January 1998

Our Ref. : (16) in W 34/97
Tel No. : 2973 8129
Fax No. : 2840 0467/2869 4376
23 December 1997

Mr YEUNG Tak-hing
Chairman
Social Security Assistants’ Branch
Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants’ Association
8 Wylie Road
King's Park
Kowloon

Dear Mr YEUNG,

I was authorized to reply to your letters addressed to the Chief Executive dated 25 November and 14 December 1997.

The Health and Welfare Bureau (HWB) and the Social Welfare Department (SWD) have always been paying attention to the sharp increase in caseload which has led to understaffed situation of the Social Security Assistant (SSA) grade. Both the HWB and the SWD have been sparing no effort in seeking solutions to the problem of shortage of SSAs. A review was conducted by the Management Services Agency (MSA) in the end of December 1995 on the staffing situation in the Social Security Field Units (SSFU) operated by the SWD, and a number of recommendations were subsequently made. New staffing requirements for SSFUs were devised and working procedures were streamlined in order to achieve a more efficient work flow. A total of 237 additional staff members have been deployed to SSFUs since 1996/97. Among these 237 additional staff members, 161 were staff of the SSA grade, representing an increase of 26%. Most of the recommendations made by the MSA have been implemented, and the SWD is currently conducting a "Post-implementation Review", with a view to further streamlining working procedures and re-distributing the duties of the SSA grade, so that their workload can be reduced. Concurrently, the SWD is also implementing a number of work easement measures to simplify some of the work to be undertaken by the SSA grade, so as to alleviate the work pressure brought about by manpower shortage.

Funds will be allocated to the SWD in 1998/99 to create additional posts in SSFUs to solve the problem of manpower shortage. Moreover, the Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) approved funds for the SWD late last month for the development of a Computerized Social Security System (CSSS) which would improve the efficiency of SSFUs. In the long run, the CSSS is expected to relieve the staffing requirements of SSFUs and enhance the quality of services. The HWB recognizes the initiatives as well as the patience displayed by the SSA grade in the face of a staff shortfall. Under the constraint of having only limited resources, it is hoped that your Branch can continue to discuss the issue with the SWD in a sensible and practical manner, so as to come up with some fully-justified and effective solutions which could resolve the present problem of manpower shortage.

I understand that your Branch wrote to members of the PLC to reflect the problem of manpower shortage in the SSA grade. The staff members (sic) are very much concerned about this problem. Society (sic) is preparing an information note for submission to the PLC Panel on Welfare Services to explain the situation.

Last but not least, I earnestly hope that your Branch can, on the premise of working for the well-being of the public, co-operate with the SWD in the provision of quality services for the general public.

(signed)
(Ms Angelina KWAN)
for Secretary for Health and Welfare

The following list sets out the remarks made by the Social Security Assistants’ Branch (SSAB) in response to the points raised in the reply letter from the Secretary for Health and Welfare dated 23.12.97

	para/line	wording in the letter	SSAB's remarks
1.	2/8-9	"New staffing requirements for SSFUs were devised and working procedures were streamlined......"	In MSA's report, apart from the recommendations on streamlining working procedures, some other suggestions were made to enhance the quality of services in various aspects in response to changing social needs. Therefore, the actual workload on our staff members has not been reduced at all.
2.	2/10	"......since 1996/97."	That represents a time-span of one year and nine months from April 1996 to December 1997.
3.	2/11-12	"......, 161 were staff of the SSA grade, representing an increase of 26%."	i. That could only offset part of the staffing requirements arising from the increase in caseload. ii. The increase in the number of CSSA cases in the corresponding period was 36%.
4.	2/14-15	"......re-distributing the duties of......, so that their workload can be reduced."	Our representatives had also participated in the "Post-implementation Review". One of the recommendations in that Review was to delegate some of the important working procedures to Social Security Assistants. As such duties were originally undertaken by Senior Social Security Assistants, most of the participating members held that this would lead to deterioration in the quality of services.
5.	2/16-18	"......work easement measures ......alleviate the work pressure brought about by manpower shortage."	This constitutes one of the reasons for the deteriorating quality of services.
6.	3/1-2	"......in 1998/99......to solve the problem of manpower shortage."	i. 100 posts (including posts of other grades) will be created. ii. Even if all the posts are successfully created in April 1998, the current staff shortfall cannot be fully met.
7.	3/5-6	"In the long run, ......the quality of services."	The SWD estimated that the number of posts required could be reduced from 2001/2002 onwards. Therefore, the mentioned system is not conducive to solving the present problem.
8.	3/8-9	"....., it is hoped that your Branch can continue to discuss the issue....."	i. How can we further discuss the issue if no resources are provided? ii. Why does the HWB not discuss the issue with us?
9.	3/8-11	"Under the constraint of having only limited resources, ...... could resolve the present problem of manpower shortage."	i. We have already adopted a most restrained and sensible attitude in striving for a solution to the problem of manpower shortage. If this had not been the case, industrial action would have been taken on 1 August 1997. ii. The crux of the problem lies in the unavailability of adequate resources.
10.	4/2-3	i. "The staff members......" ii. "Society is preparing......"	i. These words should read "PLC members" ii. These words should read "The SWD is preparing......"

(chop affixed)
Social Security Assistants’ Branch
Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants’ Association

7 January 1998