RETIRED parents with only one child would be paid 160 yuan (US$24) a month, according to a regulation on family planning awards announced recently.
The money would be distributed through social insurance organizations at the end of each quarter.
Parents were still eligible regardless of whether the child was deceased or disabled, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported.
The standard 30-yuan only-child allowance would be included in the award.
According to the allowance policy, parents with one child are eligible for 30 yuan a month until the child reaches the age of 14. The allowance is supposed to be paid by employers but many Shenzhen companies did not adhere to the policy.
My child is now 2 years old and I ve never received a one-child allowance. My company said they d never heard of it and if I wanted that money, I could quit and find another job that paid the allowance, said a woman surnamed Lin who works for an international company.
Lin was told that most international companies in Shenzhen did not pay the allowance, and she did not want to lose her job for such a small sum of money.
The allowance policy was implemented in 1980 when our salaries were only about 60 yuan a month. The 30-yuan allowance was almost half our salary. But after all these years, it is still 30 yuan, which is now quite meaningless. I hope the government increases the allowance so people can benefit more, Lin said. (Wang Yuanyuan)
