Proposals · Part II · Rebuilding the hawker economy

The named deputy

A short-cover joint operator: one registered assistant may run the stall for up to an hour a day, without the four-hour minimum.

ASK OF GOVERNMENT · SPEED AND A SHORT-COVER VARIANT, NOT A NEW RULE

An NEA rule change beside the relief notice. Safeguards so it cannot become subletting: one named, registered person; the hour capped and logged like the relief notice; and the stallholder running the stall for the rest of every business day. Assumed: the hawker works 12 of his 13 hours, with no extra wages because the assistant is already employed. Of the five levers added to the package it moves the rent break point most.

Who pays

ASK OF GOVERNMENT

What it builds on

NEA's Joint Operator Scheme, which lets a citizen or PR share a stall's hours but requires at least four hours every business day (MSE, 11 Nov 2024).

The ask of Government

Decision: The named deputy – a short-cover joint operator: one registered assistant, named by the stallholder, may run the stall for up to an hour a day, logged like the relief notice, with no four-hour minimum, while the stallholder stays on the roll
Instrument: A variant of NEA's Joint Operator Scheme (administrative)
Fiscal cost: Zero
What it buys: An hour back each day, with the safeguards that keep it from becoming a sublet: one named person, capped hours, a log (§2.7).

From §2.7, §7.7.

Who gains

Hawkers: An hour a day back, to see a doctor or simply sit down, without breaking the personal-operation rule (§2.7).

Model scores

Scored by the Follow the Plate model. How the scores work is in Follow the Plate, D.7. Cash and savings are shown separately. “Per programme dollar” is the household gain for each dollar the programme spends.

Named deputy (§2.7): Named deputy: a registered assistant runs the stall for a capped hour a day; the hawker works 12 of 13 hours
Amounts a year	Per tendered NEA stall (NEA centre, tendered)	National, at 30% take-up (0 stalls)
Programme cost	$0	$0
Net public cost	$0	$0
Hawker household: cash	$0	$0
Hawker household: savings and other gains	$0	$0
Diners	$0	$0
Per programme dollar: all gains	–	–
Per programme dollar: cash	–	–

Where the library discusses it

§2.7 · §1.3 · §7.7 · Follow the Plate, D.4.1 · Follow the Plate, D.7.1

Note: The model gives back 302 hours a year at no cost to anyone; it moves hours, not money, so its national row is zero.