The Property Management Services Authority (PMSA) announced today that the “Anti-epidemic Support Scheme for Environmental Hygiene and Security Staff in Property Management Sector” under the sixth round of the Anti-epidemic Fund (the ASPM) is formally launched for receiving applications. The Legislative Council approved earlier the allocation of HK$1.82 billion to the ASPM and the PMSA is commissioned by the Home Affairs Department to implement the ASPM, to vet applications and disburse the subsidies.
The ASPM will provide financial support to frontline property management (PM) workers performing duties related to environmental hygiene or security in private residential, composite (commercial cum residential), industrial and commercial building blocks (including shopping malls) to strengthen their capacity on personal protection and environmental hygiene, as well as to give recognition to their committed anti-epidemic efforts since the onset of the fifth wave of the epidemic. The subsidised period of the ASPM will be from February to June 2022 and each eligible PM worker may receive a subsidy of HK$2,000 monthly for a maximum of five months.
Applications for eligible frontline PM workers (including eligible workers hired by various premises within a building block and cleansing/security workers employed by contractors hired by property management companies (PMCs), managers of deeds of mutual covenant (DMC Managers) or owners’ organisations (OOs)) have to be submitted by PMCs, DMC Managers or OOs/owners corporations (OCs) of the eligible properties. Each building block in an eligible property is subject to a quota of 100 headcounts for the subsidy. Applicants may apply through the online application system or they may download application form from the ASPM website and submit by post or through drop box at the PMSA office.
Frontline PM workers providing cleansing or security services to building blocks which have no OCs, OOs or PMCs (i.e. “three-nil” buildings) may submit application individually. Application forms, which are available to be collected at Home Affairs Enquiry Centres or be downloaded from the ASPM website, should be submitted by post or through drop box at the PMSA office. If an applicant has already received subsidy from an application for another property made by a PMC, DMC Manager or OO/OC under the ASPM, the repeated application will not be accepted.
The application deadline for the ASPM is April 30, 2022.
Chairperson of the PMSA, Tony Tse, welcomed today the Government’s new round of the ASPM on the PMSA blog. Chairperson Tse emphasised, “Since the onset of the epidemic, we rely very much on the frontline PM workers who have remained steadfast at the forefront combatting the pandemic and are fully committed to their duties in order to minimise the risk of infection and the spreading of the virus in the community. I, on behalf of the PMSA, would wish to express our heartfelt appreciation to all the frontline PM workers for their contributions.”
Chairperson Tse added, “The new round of the ASPM will expand its scope to cover cleansing and security workers providing services to “three-nil” buildings so that more frontline PM workers can be benefitted. The PMSA will carry out the vetting work through lenient, simple and expeditious procedures as adopted in executing the first round of the ASPM so that frontline PM workers can be benefitted earliest possible.
To read the full blog post, please visit the PMSA blog: https://www.pmsa.org.hk/tc/information-centre/blogs/pmsa_20220228. (Chinese Only)
The first round of the ASPM implemented in 2020 by the PMSA has granted subsidies of over HK$1.1 billion, benefiting nearly 40,000 building blocks and more than 160,000 frontline PM workers.
For details of the new round of the ASPM, please visit the thematic website aspm.pmsa.org.hk. For enquiries about the ASPM, please call 3696 1156 / 3696 1166 or e-mail to aspm@pmsa.org.hk.
Ends/Monday, 28 February 2022
Issued at HKT 19:30
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