Labour and welfare minister Chris Sun on Wednesday said officials were looking at lowering the maximum amount of sick leave allowed under a subsidy scheme for people involved in traffic accidents. Last month, the police said they had arrested 275 people on suspicion of "staging" accidents to obtain the allowance. The minister told lawmakers the scheme currently allows for 180 days of leave, and officials are inclined to cut that down. "Currently, the maximum sick leave allowed is roughly half a year. We think this should be subject to review. We'll see if we should give so much, and whether we should lower the number.....and by how much? We will have a look," Sun said at a Legislative Council meeting. "Another thing is that there are quite a number of subsidy items on offer. One is for those injured, another is for those who cannot go to work. We think there are too many forms of subsidies. The aim is mainly to weather the storm for the recipient. So we'll think of ways to consolidate these, to simplify things." Sun said officials also have to implement the scheme under the principle of keeping expenditures within the limits of revenues. He added the money for the subsidies comes from transport-related fees such as licensing and vehicle registration. The minister hoped the review could be completed before the end of the year, for tabling the proposed changes to the legislature for discussion. Sun also said following the arrests, social welfare officials have reviewed their workflow, and made extra efforts to check the documents submitted by subsidy applicants, especially those who were making repeated claims.
