LCQ21: Manpower in the security services industry
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Question:
Regarding the manpower in the security services industry and the importation of security practitioners, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the numbers of persons employed to perform security work in each of the past three years and this year to date, with a breakdown by the type of security work they did (i.e. Category A, B, C and D security work);
(2) of the current number of valid Security Personnel Permit (SPP) holders, with a breakdown by the age group of the holders and the category of SPPs they hold;
(3) of the respective numbers of SPPs issued by the Police Licensing Office of the Police Force to new applicants in each of the past three years and this year to date, with a breakdown by the age group of the applicants;
(4) from the introduction of the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS) on September 4, 2023 to the announcement of the review findings and enhanced measures of ESLS on June 15, 2026 by the Government, and from June 16, 2026 to the present, of the respective numbers of applications for the importation of security personnel received, approved and rejected under ESLS by the authorities each month, with a breakdown by the category of security work to which the posts belong; among the aforesaid approved cases, of the number of imported workers who have arrived in Hong Kong; and
(5) as some members of the industry have pointed out that the relaxation under ESLS allowing imported workers to work at business locations in no more than five districts has substantially enhanced employers' flexibility in work arrangements, which may encourage security and property management companies to apply more actively for the importation of security practitioners, of the measures put in place by the authorities to ensure the employment priority for local workers, including whether they will consider establishing a mechanism whereby a job category will be included in a more stringent Tier 2 vetting mechanism under ESLS if its imported workers exceed a certain proportion of the total number of practitioners; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
According to the Security and Guarding Services Ordinance (Cap. 460) (the Ordinance) , the Security and Guarding Services Industry Authority is responsible for formulating issuing criteria and conditions for security personnel permits (SPPs), while the Police Licensing Office (PLO) is responsible for issuing SPPs to individuals performing security work.
At present, SPPs are classified into four categories, namely A, B, C and D, according to different types of security work. Category A is applicable to guarding work provided for a single private residential building which does not require the carrying of arms and ammunition; Category B is applicable to guarding work provided for any persons, premises or properties which does not require the carrying of arms and ammunition; Category C is applicable to guarding work which requires the carrying of arms and ammunition; and Category D is applicable to the installation, maintenance and repairing of a security device, or the designing of a system incorporating a security device for any particular premises or place.
Having consulted the Labour and Welfare Bureau, the reply to the question raised by the Hon Chau Siu-chung is as follows:
(1) and (2) The number and age distribution of security personnel currently holding valid SPPs (i.e. SPPs of Category A, B, C or D) are set out in Table 1.
Table 1: Current number and age distribution of holders of various categories of SPPs
| Age | SPP Category | Total@ | |||
| A | B* | C^ | D | ||
| 18-20 | 3 767 | 3 764 | 7 | 8 | 3 775 |
| 21-30 | 25 765 | 25 751 | 194 | 550 | 26 273 |
| 31-40 | 31 036 | 31 021 | 308 | 1 429 | 32 334 |
| 41-50 | 57 114 | 57 082 | 255 | 2 103 | 58 991 |
| 51-60 | 108 962 | 108 933 | 143 | 2 005 | 110 697 |
| 61-70 | 115 523 | 109 162 | - | 1 049 | 116 309 |
| 71-80 | 19 213 | - | - | 98 | 19 290 |
| Above 80 | 946 | - | - | 2 | 949 |
| Total | 362 326 | 335 713 | 907 | 7 244 | 368 618 |
@ Some SPP holders may simultaneously hold SPPs of more than one category.
* The upper age limit for performing Category B security work is 70.
^ The upper age limit for performing Category C security work is 60.
The number of security personnel holding valid SPPs and employed to perform security work (including full-time, part-time and temporary positions) over the past three years and this year (up to September) is set out in Table 2. Regarding employed personnel, the PLO does not maintain statistics broken down by type of security work (i.e. Categories A, B, C or D) or age group.
Table 2: Number of persons employed to perform security work@
| Year | Total |
| 2023 | 155 599 |
| 2024 | 160 970 |
| 2025 | 160 292 |
| 2026 (up to September) |
161 399 |
@ According to section 13 of the Ordinance, a security company or an employer of security personnel shall, within 14 days after the commencement/termination of the employment, give written notice to the Commissioner of Police of the names of the employees and of the date on which the employment commenced/ceased. The PLO has compiled the statistics based on the information collected.
(3) The number and age distribution of new applicants issued with SPPs by the PLO in the past three years and this year (up to September) are set out in Table 3.
Table 3: Number and age distribution of new applicants issued with SPPs
| Age | Year | |||
| 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 (up to September) |
|
| 18 - 20 | 1 260 | 1 622 | 2 160 | 2 373 |
| 21 - 30 | 4 194 | 5 293 | 6 362 | 5 761 |
| 31 - 40 | 4 996 | 5 857 | 7 287 | 5 611 |
| 41 - 50 | 10 352 | 11 557 | 13 964 | 9 521 |
| 51 - 60 | 15 987 | 18 184 | 22 917 | 16 553 |
| 61 - 70 | 9 940 | 11 601 | 15 428 | 11 344 |
| 71 - 80 | 597 | 590 | 768 | 1 497 |
| Over 80 | 55 | 48 | 61 | 53 |
| Total | 47 381 | 54 752 | 68 947 | 52 713 |
(4) The Labour Department (LD) has implemented the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS) since September 4, 2023. Up to September 2026, applications for importing 17 742 security guards were received from employers, and approvals for importing 7 275 security guards were granted. The others involved applications of which the processing was discontinued (including applications withdrawn by employers, applications for which the employers failed to provide the required information, and those failing to pass the preliminary screening), applications under processing, applications that were not fully approved, etc. According to the statistics from the Immigration Department, as at August 2026, 2 736 imported security guards were working in Hong Kong under ESLS. The LD currently does not maintain the number of applications received and approved broken down by type of security work.
The annual figures (including the monthly average) of imported security guards applied for and approved under ESLS from September 4, 2023 to September 2026 are set out in Table 4. The LD does not maintain the number of imported security guards under ESLS broken down by type of security work (i.e. Categories A, B, C or D).
Table 4: Number of imported security guards applied for and approved under ESLS@
| Year | No. of imported security guards applied for* | Average no. of imported security guards applied for per month | No. of imported security guards approved* | Average no. of imported security guards approved per month |
| 2023 (September to December) |
1 851 | 463 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 5 631 | 469 | 1 945 | 162 |
| 2025 | 6 753 | 563 | 3 039 | 253 |
| 2026 (January to June) |
1 814 | 302 | 1 593 | 266 |
| 2026 (July to September) |
1 693 | 564 | 698 | 233 |
| Total | 17 742 | - | 7 275 | - |
@ The classification of job categories may be subject to revisions upon verification of information from employers.
* The LD has implemented ESLS since September 4, 2023. The vetting of applications received during the above period may be completed thereafter, and hence the number of imported workers approved only reflects the results of some of the applications received during the same period.
(5) The Government has always been committed to ensuring employment priority for local workers, while allowing only employers facing genuine recruitment difficulties and shortages of local manpower to import labour after approval, on a limited scale. The Government stringently vets each application for labour importation. Employers are allowed to import labour only upon meeting the manning ratio requirements of local employees to imported workers, undertaking local recruitment thereby according priority to employing qualified local workers to fill job vacancies at a salary not lower than the median monthly wage of a comparable position in the market, and proving that vacancies cannot be filled by local workers.
To further safeguard the employment priority for local workers, ESLS has implemented a tiered vetting mechanism. Job categories falling under the Tier 2 mechanism are subject to more stringent requirements in respect of manning ratio and local recruitment requirements, etc. The LD will continue to monitor the economic and labour market situation, the manpower supply and demand in relevant sector(s) and post(s), the application and vetting situations of ESLS, etc. If there is a need to tighten the vetting criteria for specific sector(s) and post(s) (including security guards), the LD will include relevant sector(s)/ operating section(s) in the Tier 2 vetting mechanism to ensure employment priority for local workers.
Ends/Wednesday, October 21, 2026
Issued at HKT 14:55
Issued at HKT 14:55
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