11) Social Welfare System

1. Forms of care

Formal care

provided by government and Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs)

provided by trained individuals

coordinated / supervised / guided by professionals

Informal care

provided by the carers who:
- receive no official payment / the time spent on providing care is unpaid
- provides care on a voluntary basis

Volunteer

complementing to the private care
- do not charge the clients for their services
complementing to the informal care
- trained and organised to provide care services
complementing to the formal care
- extra manpower resources to the services
- autonomy: independence from the government and the market

2. Social Security

Definition	Social protection established by government that provides individuals and households to ensure access to health care and to guarantee income security when faced with the contingencies such as sickness or unemployment
Social Security in Hong Kong	Contributory Programmes	Non-contributory Programmes
Social Security in Hong Kong	Old Age Protection The Mandatory Provident Fund Voluntary savings and insurance	Provided by the Social Welfare Department Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme Social Security Allowance (SSA) Scheme Criminal and Law Enforcement Injuries Compensation (CLEIC) Scheme Traffic Accident Victims Assistance (TAVA) Scheme Emergency Relief

3. Social Welfare

Definition	In the narrow sense	social services provided to people in need such as elderly and disabled persons by the Social Welfare Department and Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs)
Definition	In the broad sense	cover the other public services such as health care, education, housing and employment
Social services in Hong Kong	Different Target Groups:	Examples: Family and Child Welfare Services for the Elderly Rehabilitation Services Services for Offenders
	Different Purposes of Intervention	Examples: Preventive or Crisis Intervention Centre-based or Community-based Integrated or Specialized Services
	Different Target Groups:	Examples: Outreaching Social Work Social Work in Integrated Family Service Centres Medical Social Work

4. Development of Social Welfare in Hong Kong

Emergency Relief in a Community of Immigrants	Early Settlement to 1950s	in the form of mutual help in the private sphere and was mostly taken up by voluntary agencies
Beginning of Social Assistance	1950s to 1960s	Emergency Relief Fund Scheme overseas relief organisations social services were regarded as charity
Golden Decade of Welfare Development	1970s	means-tested public assistance scheme development of social services, especially the youth service
Challenges in the Development of Social Welfare	1980s’ to now	Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme Lump Sum Grant

5. Social Welfare Systems in Different Countries

	Market-oriented countries	Welfare states
Rationale	Individual needs should be satisfied by the private market and family. Only when these break down should social welfare institutions come into play and then only temporarily.	Social welfare is an integrated institution in the society and the provision is based on individual needs
Policy objectives	To minimise government intervention and dependence on welfare	To provide universal services for all people To achieve resources reallocation
Examples	USA The funding of social security is from the tax on the employers of enterprises and business Company and private insurances are important parts	UK Universal coverage Benefits from National insurance to protect an individual from birth to death

Reading

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Assessment Tasks