Following is a question by the Hon Judy Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mrs Ingrid Yeung, in the Legislative Council today (June 3):
 
Question:
 
     It has been reported that the Government has allocated $51.9 billion for the payment of pensions to eligible retired civil servants and judicial officers in the 2025-2026 financial year, an increase of $1.761 billion over the previous year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of the numbers of retired civil servants and judicial officers receiving pensions from the Government under (i) the civil service pension schemes and (ii) the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) Scheme or the Civil Service Provident Fund (CSPF) Scheme, as well as the respective pension expenditures, in each of the past five years;
 
(2) among the civil servants and judicial officers expected to retire this year, of the numbers of those who are under (i) the civil service pension schemes and (ii) the MPF Scheme or the CSPF Scheme, as well as the respective expenditures;
 
(3) of the respective numbers of retired civil servants and judicial officers receiving pensions from the Government in each year since 2021;
 
(4) of the number of cases in which the Government ceased the payment of monthly pensions to retired civil servants and judicial officers following their death in each of the past five years; and
 
(5) whether there is a mechanism in place to ensure the Government's immediate cessation of the payment of monthly pensions to retired civil servants and judicial officers upon their death; if so, of the details; whether there have been any instances in the past five years where monthly pensions continued to be paid to such personnel after their death; if so, whether the reasons have been investigated, and what follow-up or remedial measures the Government has taken?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     At present, civil servants appointed on terms which attract pension benefits are confined to those who were appointed before June 1, 2000. For civil servants appointed on or after June 1 ,2000, the Government will make contributions according to their terms of appointment under the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) Schemes Ordinance or Civil Service Provident Fund (CSPF) Scheme during their actual period of service. Our response to the five parts of the question is as follows:
 
(1) and (3) The number of retired civil servants and judicial officers receiving pensions and the total expenditure on pension payments made to them in the past five financial years are set out below:
 

Financial year	Number of retired civil servants and judicial officers receiving pensions (as at the end of the respective financial year)		Total expenditure on pensions for civil servants and judicial officers (including gratuities and pensions) ($ million)
	Civil Servants	Judicial Officers
2021-22	150 086	131	42,243
2022-23	153 906	137	44,111
2023-24	157 436	141	46,230
2024-25	160 638	140	48,264
2025-26	163 624	141	50,052

 
     The total number of officers appointed on terms under the MPF Scheme or the CSPF Scheme and the total MPF and CSPF contributions made for eligible officers in the past five financial years are set out below:
 

Financial year	Total number of officers appointed on terms under the MPF Scheme or the CSPF Scheme (as at the end of the respective financial year)	Total expenditure on MPF and CSPF contributions ($ million)
2021-22	120 600	6,731
2022-23	124 300	7,538
2023-24	129 700	8,382
2024-25	134 800	9,244
2025-26	137 400	9,861

 
     Under the CSPF Scheme, the Government's contribution rate increases progressively depending on the years of service of the civil servants. As of now, all the officers who were appointed to the civil service on or after June 1, 2000 have yet to reach the required years of service to be eligible for the maximum Government's contribution rate. Hence, the total expenditure on MPF and CSPF contributions will increase not only with the increase in the number of civil servants appointed under the Schemes, but also with the increase in the years of service of civil servants.
 
(2) Pension schemes and MPF Scheme/CSPF Scheme are two different forms of retirement protection. Under the former, officers will be receiving retirement benefits after retirement, and will not receive pension payment while in service; whereas under the latter, the Government makes contributions to their retirement benefits while the officers are in service. The number of retiring civil servants and judicial officers receiving pensions in 2026-27 is estimated to be 5 330, involving an estimated expenditure of about $16,000 million in 2026-27. The number of retiring civil servants and judicial officers appointed on terms under the MPF Scheme or the CSPF Scheme in the same financial year is estimated to be about 1 000. The number of retiring civil servants and judicial officers appointed under the MPF Scheme or CSPF Scheme is relatively small as most of the officers who were appointed to the civil service on or after June 1, 2000 under the two Schemes have not reached their retirement age. Under the MPF and the CSPF Schemes, the expenditure on Government contributions are made throughout the period of the officers' service. The monthly contributions made by the Government as employer (including the mandatory and voluntary contributions) are made to the MPF contribution accounts of the officers concerned, who would make investment choices of their own. Therefore, no additional Government expenditure will be incurred when those officers retire.
 
(4) The number of cases in which monthly pension payments to retired civil servants and judicial officers receiving pensions have been ceased due to their death in the past five financial years is set out below:
 

Financial Year	Number of cases
2021-22	2 915
2022-23	2 801
2023-24	2 706
2024-25	2 686
2025-26	2 578

 
(5) According to the existing requirement, upon the death of a pensioner, the next of kin of the deceased pensioner should inform the Treasury as early as possible for arrangement of immediate cessation of pension payment. If the next of kin has failed to make a report in a timely manner resulting in overpayment of pensions by the Government, the Treasury will request the bank to directly recover the overpaid amount from the deceased pensioner's bank account, or request the next of kin to provide details of the estate administrator to recover the overpaid amount. In addition, the Treasury has in place appropriate measures to ensure there is no overpayment of pensions by the Government, which include:
 
(i) pensioners are generally required to complete and return annually a Declaration of Entitlement to Pension Benefits, either witnessed by a third party or digitally signed via "iAM Smart+", to substantiate their continued entitlement to pensions. If the declaration is not returned by the specified date, payment of pensions will be temporarily suspended until receipt of the declaration; 

(ii) selected pensioners are required to provide valid supporting documents to the Treasury for sampling checks on a regular basis; and 

(iii) the Treasury checks the list of pensioners against the death records provided by the Immigration Department on a regular basis. Pension payment will be ceased immediately if any death case is identified, and the Treasury will recover the overpaid amount as necessary.

Ends/Wednesday, June 3, 2026
Issued at HKT 15:00

NNNN