(G) Labour Support and Protection

247. In the face of accelerated industrial transformation and ever-evolving technological development, our workforce must continuously acquire new skills to stay abreast of economic development and seize emerging opportunities. We will ensure the employment priority of local workers and combat illegal employment rigorously. To enhance the competitiveness of Hong Kong's workforce and enlarge the talent pool, we will reform the Employees Retraining Board (ERB) and optimise the Re-employment Allowance Pilot Scheme. We will also strengthen labour protection, including protecting digital platform workers, and enhancing occupational safety and health (OSH).

Ensure Employment Priority of Local Workers

248. As our population continues to age, Hong Kong faces a declining labour force. Importing labour on an appropriate scale helps ease manpower shortages and serves Hong Kong's overall interests. We will launch measures to ensure the employment priority of local workers and combat the abuse of the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS). Starting tomorrow, when applying to import waiters/waitresses and junior cooks under the ESLS, employers are required to:

(i) Extend the local recruitment process from four weeks to six weeks, during which they must once a week attend an on-site job fair organised by the Labour Department (LD).

(ii) Implement the manning ratio requirement²³ more stringently such that it is calculated based on posts being applied for, but not on all posts engaged by an employer. In other words, an employer applying to import a waiter/waitress and a junior cook must have already employed two local full-time waiters/waitresses and two local full-time junior cooks.

249. The above measures aim to combat abuse in a targeted manner, focusing on job categories with more imported workers, while ensuring businesses with genuine difficulties in local recruitment are allowed to import supplementary labour in an orderly manner to avoid business closures and collateral damage to existing employees.

250. In addition, the Labour and Welfare Bureau (LWB) has just begun a mid-term update of the Manpower Projection with focus on analysing data of industries with a larger number of imported labour. The update will be completed in 2026. The LWB will accord priority to analysing the relevant data, and provide its findings on relevant parts in advance.

Enhance Actions to Combat Illegal Employment

251. The Government will step up efforts to combat illegal employment, establish a dedicated hotline for reporting illegal workers, and strengthen intelligence collection and inter-departmental joint enforcement operations to safeguard the employment opportunities of local workers.

Reform the Employees Retraining Board and Strengthen Local Skills Training

252. In the last Policy Address, I announced the reform of the ERB. The aim is to assist members of the workforce, from all backgrounds and educational attainments, to enhance their skills and competitiveness on a continuous basis, to meet the needs of economic and industrial development in Hong Kong.

253. Since early this year, the ERB has enhanced such services as training and career planning, and outlined an initial reform roadmap for the next three years. The ERB will strengthen its industry consultative mechanism, and identify demand for and gaps in core skills in a targeted manner to devise a skills-based training framework. It will collaborate with higher education institutions and guide other training bodies in developing courses of various types and levels to fill the skill gaps. In future, the ERB will also launch micro-credential courses recognised by industries to offer greater flexibility to trainees, and make good use of technology to offer diversified and flexible modes of learning. When the ERB finalises the full implementation by the end of this year, the Government will amend the Employees Retraining Ordinance accordingly.

Optimise the Re-employment Allowance Pilot Scheme

254. The LD launched the three-year Re-employment Allowance Pilot Scheme in July last year. The scheme has been well-received, with over 50 000 participants and more than 27 000 placements recorded as of August this year. The LD will continue to collect and collate information and data on the participants and placements of the scheme, conducting a mid term review in the first quarter of next year, along with the Employment Programme for the Elderly and Middle-aged, to explore measures promoting silver employment.

Set the First Minimum Wage Rate According to the New Annual Review Mechanism

255. The Government has agreed to the new mechanism of adopting a formula for implementing the annual review of the Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW) rate proposed by the Minimum Wage Commission. The first SMW rate derived under the new mechanism is expected to take effect on 1 May 2026.

Protect Digital Platform Workers

256. The prevalence of digital platforms, such as those providing food and goods delivery services, has brought convenience to the public and created job opportunities. The Government will improve the work injury compensation mechanism for digital platform workers through legislation, and continue to make good use of the Tripartite Committee for the Digital Platform Industry to discuss issues of concern to the stakeholders.

Enhance Occupational Safety and Health

257. We saw a 30% drop in the number of fatal construction accidents in 2024 compared with 2023. The LD will continue to step up inspection and enforcement, promotion and publicity, as well as education and training, to build a stronger OSH culture and reduce accidents. The department will also make good use of innovative technologies and AI, such as using drones to enhance inspection and evidence collection, and support the industry in developing technology products that enhance OSH.

(H) Social Welfare

Targeted Poverty Alleviation

258. The Government will continue its work on targeted poverty alleviation by directing resources to those most in need. Relevant measures include:

(i) Enrich activities of the Strive and Rise Alumni Club with $10 million funding from the HKJC, providing young people with training and experience that integrate Hong Kong pop culture and traditional Chinese arts; and inject $180 million into the Child Development Fund to continue implementing projects promoting the long-term development of upper primary students from disadvantaged communities, and further enhance different elements of the projects by drawing on the successful experience of the Strive and Rise Programme, with a view to reducing intergenerational poverty.

(ii) Set up six additional Community Living Rooms (CLRs). Together with the nine CLRs already launched, they are expected to benefit about 7 000 SDU households, serving over 1.4 million attendances.

(iii) Enhance the School-based After School Care Service Scheme by uncapping the number of places to expand support for primary students and parents in need.

(iv) Roll out the "Co-build a Caring Society Funding Scheme" to encourage family offices involved in philanthropic endeavours to provide resources implementing projects that benefit the disadvantaged groups.

(v) Provide time-limited cash incentives, on a pilot basis, for households leaving the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme and eligible for the Working Family Allowance, to promote self-reliance.

(vi) Publish the Report on Impact of Targeted Poverty Alleviation Strategy in Hong Kong in mid-2026.

Care for the Elderly

259. The Government will continue to adhere to the principle of promoting "ageing in place as the core, with institutional care as back-up". Eleven measures will be introduced:

Ageing in Place

(i) Increase the total number of Community Care Service Vouchers for the Elderly by 4 000 to 16 000.

(ii) Set up three new Neighbourhood Elderly Centres to strengthen support at the district level. They are expected to serve some 3 000 elderly persons annually.

(iii) Lease out newly built government welfare facilities on a pilot basis to allow service operators greater flexibility in offering day care and support services for the elderly under different funding modes.

(iv) Enhance the Integrated Discharge Support Programme for Elderly Patients to provide social welfare service support for discharged elderly persons in need.

Strengthen Residential Care Services

(v) Provide about 700 new subsidised residential care service places.

(vi) Increase the total number of Residential Care Service Vouchers for the Elderly by 1 000 to 7 000.

(vii) Subsidise eligible serving health workers of residential care homes to enrol in the new professional diploma programme for Health&Care Practitioners, nurturing dedicated professionals and promoting the development of the sector.

Enhance Elderly Care Arrangements in the Greater Bay Area

(viii) Launch a pilot scheme by the end of this year to subsidise elderly CSSA recipients choosing to retire in Guangdong to reside in designated residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) in the province, thereby enhancing their quality of life. Each eligible elderly person will receive a monthly subsidy of $5,000, subject to a quota of 1 000.

(ix) Expand continuously the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong. Starting from October, the number of Mainland RCHEs participating in the scheme will increase from 15 to 24, while the number of cities covered will increase from six to eight.

(x) Launch a two-year pilot arrangement by the end of this year to share part of the medical expenses that Hong Kong elderly participants of the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong need to bear on their own under the National Basic Medical Insurance Policy.

(xi) Facilitate Hong Kong elderly recipients retiring in Guangdong and Fujian Provinces by providing the option to receive Government assistance directly through their bank accounts with designated Mainland banks²⁴. 

Support Carers

260. Carers play an important role in supporting elderly persons and persons with disabilities (PWDs). When carers are provided with appropriate support to alleviate physical and mental stress, they are better able to take care of elderly persons and PWDs. Current measures include providing allowance for carers from low-income families, enhancing respite services to give carers a break, setting up a 24-hour hotline manned by social workers, launching a one-stop information gateway, and organising large-scale publicity and public education activities.

261. The Government will earmark an annual recurrent expenditure of $500 million to roll out a series of measures to enhance support for carers, including:

(i) The Government has launched the first phase of the Carer Support Data Platform, which initially connects the data of the SWD, the HA and the HKHA, and progressively connect the data of more government departments and public organisations to expand the Carer Support Data Platform.

(ii) Upon learning from the HA that a high-risk carer has been hospitalised, the SWD will arrange outreach to the care recipients and offer emergency support according to their needs.

(iii) We have consolidated the data of the HKHA and the SWD to identify high-risk carers of elderly persons and carers of PWDs, as well as singleton or doubleton elderly households lacking sufficient community support, and deploy Care Teams to conduct visits.

(iv) We will continue implementing the District Services and Community Care Teams – Scheme on Supporting Elderly and Carers for three years by inviting Care Teams to actively provide support for and pay visit to high-risk families, and assisting households referred by Care Teams in installing and using the emergency alarm system as necessary.

(v) We will install an intelligent accident detection system for 300 high-risk households.

(vi) We will continue the implementation of the Support for Carers Project for three years, with a view to providing training for frontline property management personnel in assisting carers in need.

(vii) We will enhance the existing AI chatbot function of the Information Gateway for Carers.

Support Persons in Rehabilitation

Formulate Guidelines on Rehabilitation Products

262. The Government will collaborate with university teams to formulate guidelines for consumers of rehabilitation products, with electric wheelchairs, electric smart beds, and robotic exoskeletons as pilot items. The guidelines will set out basic technical and operational requirements of rehabilitation products, to assist the elderly, PWDs and their carers in selecting suitable products.

Provide Additional Rehabilitation Services for Persons with Disabilities

263. The Government will strengthen rehabilitation services for PWDs by adding 80 places under the Bought Place Scheme for Private Residential Care Homes for PWDs, 220 places at Special Child Care Centres, 100 places at Day Activity Centres (DACs), and 50 places at Hostels for Severely Mentally Handicapped Persons.

Expand Support for Ageing Persons with Disabilities

264. Ageing PWDs face additional challenges in their daily life. The Government will, starting from the second quarter of 2026, progressively introduce one-stop support and care services at hostels for severely and moderately mentally handicapped persons, and increase the number of extended care places at hostels co-located with DACs/integrated vocational rehabilitation services centres. These measures will release about 700 day rehabilitation training places, providing day training for PWDs living in the community and alleviating the pressure on carers.

²³ The ratio of full-time local employees to imported workers is 2:1.
²⁴ The relevant measure is also stipulated under Chapter V "(C) Development of the GBA".

(To be continued.)

Ends/Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Issued at HKT 13:45

NNNN