Latest News of Mar 2025

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has earlier invited eligible non-governmental organisations to submit proposals to operate The Social and Care Support Service under the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong (the Service).  A Vetting Committee (VC) was set up to conduct assessment of all the proposals received.  Upon the recommendation of the VC, SWD has selected New Home Association Limited to operate the Service. 

The sixth round application of the Special Scheme to Import Care Workers for Residential Care Homes ("Special Scheme") will be launched on 17 April 2025 till 6 May 2025.  The application can be submitted by hand, by post or through e-Form.  The sixth round application will allocate around 800 new quotas for applications for importation of care workers (CWs) and accept quota applications for employment contract renewal with the existing imported CWs submitted by residential care homes (RCHs) for the elderly, RCHs for persons with disabilities and nursing homes.  Details of the sixth round application of the Special Scheme are as follows:

RCH operators should submit the completed application form together with the form of “Information of Imported Workers of Other Schemes”.  In addition, the form of “List of In-employ Imported Care Worker” (Annex 3 to the application form) has been updated and is now available in Excel format.  If RCHs have in-employ imported care workers, the applicants should submit both the physical and electronic versions of the forms of “List of In-employ Imported Care Worker” together with the completed application form.  For details about the Special Scheme, please click [here].    

According to the statistics of the Census and Statistics Department, the updated median monthly wage for CW is HKD$14,820 (9 hours of normal working hours per day excluding meal break).

In addition, the seventh round application of the Special Scheme will be launched in July 2025.  Details will be announced in June 2025. 

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has earlier invited eligible non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to submit proposals for the operation of four Parents/ Relatives Resource Centres for Carers of Persons in Mental Recovery (PRCs for PMR) in Hong Kong.  A Vetting Committee (VC) was set up to conduct assessment of all the proposals received.  Upon the recommendations of the VC, SWD has selected 4 NGOs to operate the PRCs for PMR in the four designated service regions as follows:

"The IT Scheme for People with Visual Impairment" (9th round) and "Central Fund for Personal Computers" (51st round) now accept applications.  The deadline for both is on 3 April 2025. 
 
The IT Scheme for People with Visual Impairment supports non-profit-making organisations providing services or schooling for people with visual impairment (PVI) and tertiary institutions to acquire advanced Chinese screen readers, Braille displays and accessories/portable devices to facilitate PVI's browsing the Internet, and to subsidise individual PVI with financial difficulties to purchase these assistive devices for meeting their needs on studying or employment.  

The Central Fund for Personal Computers aims to assist persons with disabilities in acquiring the necessary computer facilities for self-employment or receiving supported employment service at home.

Invitations have been issued to the relevant organisations for making nominations and applications.
    
Details and application forms of the two schemes are available on the SWD’s website and CyberAble.net.
 
Enquiries can be made to Rehabilitation and Medical Social Services Branch, Social Welfare Department:

Telephone: 3586 3594 or Email Address: eoimc@swd.gov.hk

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has earlier invited eligible non-governmental organisations to submit proposals for operation of four Community Parents and Children Centres (CPCCs) in Hong Kong.  A Vetting Committee (VC) was set up to conduct assessment of all the proposals received.  Upon the recommendations of the VC, SWD has selected The Boys’ & Girls’ Clubs Association of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Lutheran Social Service, the Lutheran Church - Hong Kong Synod Limited, The Salvation Army, and Yan Chai Hospital to operate the CPCCs.

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has earlier invited eligible non-governmental organisations to submit proposals to operate a new aided standalone child care centre (CCC) at G/F, Lei Yue Mun Ancillary Facilities Block, 131 Yan Wing Street, Yau Tong, Kowloon. A Vetting Committee (VC) was set up to conduct assessment of all the proposals received.  Upon the recommendation of the VC, SWD has selected The Tung Wah Group of Hospitals to operate the aided standalone CCC.

Information on additional and planned places of rehabilitation services for the period of January 2025 to March 2025 has been announced.  Please download the information here.

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) announced today (February 20) that starting from March 1, four additional residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) located in Jiangmen, Foshan and Shenzhen respectively will become Recognised Service Providers under the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong (the Scheme) to provide subsidised care and attention places for participating elderly persons.

The information of the additional RCHEs is as follows:

Together with the existing 11 RCHEs, the total number of RCHEs registered under the Scheme will increase to 15, located in six Mainland cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) (i.e., Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhaoqing, Zhongshan and Jiangmen), providing more choices for the elderly who are interested in retiring in the Mainland cities in the GBA.

 For details of the Scheme, you may click here.  

The Finance Committee of the Legislative Council has approved, with effect from 1 February 2025, increasing by 1.3% the standard payment rates under the CSSA Scheme as well as the rates of Old Age Allowance (OAA), Old Age Living Allowance (OALA) [including OAA and OALA under the Guangdong (GD) Scheme and the Fujian (FJ) Scheme] and Disability Allowance under the SSA Scheme in accordance with the established mechanism, i.e., on the basis of the year-on-year rate of change of the Social Security Assistance Index of Prices.  At the same time, the asset limits as well as the maximum rent allowance under the CSSA Scheme and the asset and monthly income limits for OALA (including OALA under the GD Scheme and the FJ Scheme) under the SSA Scheme are also adjusted upwards.

The revised rates and limits effective from 1 February 2025 are provided in the leaflets below:

Information leaflet on standard rates, supplements and special grants under the CSSA Scheme (SSL/12)
PDF File

Information leaflet on asset limits under the CSSA Scheme (SSL/15)
PDF File

Information leaflet on payment rates and resource limits under the SSA Scheme (SSL/14)
PDF File

Information leaflet on maximum rent allowance under the CSSA Scheme (SSL/13)
PDF File

Besides, the flat-rate grant for selected items of school related expenses under the CSSA Scheme will be adjusted from the 2025/26 school year.  The revised rates are provided in the leaflet below:

Information leaflet on the flat-rate grant for selected items of school related expenses under the CSSA Scheme (SSL/16)
PDF File
 

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) today (January 21) released the report of the consultancy study on “Skill and Qualification Requirements of Residential Care Home (RCH) Staff providing Health and Rehabilitation Services in Hong Kong”.

The SWD established a Steering Committee on Review of Manpower for Healthcare Services in RCHs in July 2023 to provide advice and steer on the holistic review of the skill and qualification requirements of RCH staff to build professional standards and a career progression path, thereby retaining talents and attracting new blood.  The Committee was chaired by Dr Lam Ching-choi, and its membership comprised stakeholders from various sectors, including RCH operators/organisations, allied health professionals, trade union members and representatives of relevant policy bureaux/departments.  Under the steer of the Committee, the Consultant commissioned by the SWD collected views from the stakeholders through RCH field observation and data analysis, questionnaire surveys as well as workshops, focus groups and individual interviews, and sought advice from the relevant advisory bodies.  Following the conclusion of the review at the end of 2024, the Consultant has submitted the report of the consultancy study scrutinised by the Committee to the SWD.  The SWD has accepted the report.

The full text and the executive summary of the report have been uploaded to the SWD’s website, please click here for further information.

To streamline the application procedures of the Child Development Fund (CDF) and establish a regular application cycle to facilitate the long-term project and manpower planning by non-governmental organisation (NGO) and school operators, the application cycles of both NGO-led and School-based projects will be combined and launched on a biennial basis starting from the next batch (i.e. the 11th batch) of CDF to be launched in March 2026.  NGOs and schools interested to join the CDF programme in the future may refer to the attached document [click here] to learn more about the administrative duties and liabilities of CDF operators and how to select the operation mode (i.e. NGO-led or School-based projects) as appropriate.

Online Briefing Session
An online briefing session will be held at 4:00 p.m. on 23 January 2025 (Thursday) for NGOs and schools interested to join the CDF programme.  Each NGO or school is welcome to nominate two representatives to attend.

For enquiries, please contact the Child Development Fund Office at 2892 5540.

To alleviate the shortage of nurses in the welfare sector and enhance the quality of care services, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) has commissioned the Hong Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU), the Saint Francis University (SFU) and the Tung Wah College (TWC), to provide the two-year full-time Enrolled Nurse (General) Training Programme for the Welfare Sector for five consecutive years starting from the 2023-24 academic year.

The Enrolled Nurse (General) Training Programme for the Welfare Sector 2025-26 provides 427 places in total. Invitation of applications of the three training institutes starts at 9am on 13 January 2025 (Monday) and ends at 5pm on 3 March 2025 (Monday).  Information seminars on the training programme will be held by the HKMU, the SFU and the TWC, starting from February 2025. Information about the seminar, the training programme and application is available on the webpage of respective training institutes as shown below:

For enquiries, please call the enquiry numbers of the training institutes.

The Government launched the “School-based After School Care Service Scheme” (the Scheme) in the 2023/24 school year to provide focused support for families in need (particularly single-parent families).  With funding from the Community Care Fund, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are responsible for operating school-based after school care service at venues provided by schools, with a view to allowing primary students in need to stay after school to receive care and learning support, while enabling parents, who used to be tied up with caring responsibilities for their children during after-school hours, to choose to work and improve their livelihood.  The Scheme has received positive feedback since its launch.  In order to collect more comprehensive data and views from stakeholders for future review of the Scheme on the way forward, the Government will launch the one-year “School-based After School Care Service Scheme (Expanded Programme)” (“the Expanded Programme”) in the 2024/25 school year, to extend the pilot period of the Scheme, covering a total of 100 primary schools across all 18 districts in Hong Kong with about 6 000 service places

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) is now inviting eligible NGOs (Paragraph 4 of the Service Specifications) to apply for joining the Expanded Programme as Approved Service Providers (ASPs).  NGOs interested may liaise with the participating schools in accordance with the location of their service units for discussing the implementation details in accordance with the content, procedures and guidelines set out in the Service Specifications and submit the application form (Annex 1 of the Service Specifications) on or before 19 July 2024 to Community Care Fund (CCF) Team of SWD (Paragraph 38 of the Service Specifications). The list of participating schools will be provided after the briefing.

The Education Bureau and Labour and Welfare Bureau/SWD will form an interdepartmental working group to vet and approve the application.  CCF Team of SWD will notify the participating schools and partner NGOs (ASPs) of the result on or before 6 August 2024 so as to implement the after school care service in this September.

To allow interested NGOs and schools having better understanding on the Expanded Programme and the above-mentioned arrangement, the SWD is going to organise an online briefing session with details as follows:

Date:  26 June 2024 (Wednesday)
Time:  3 pm to 5 pm

Eligible and interested NGOs may download and return the completed reply slip to the Youth Section of the SWD on or before 24 June 2024 (Monday) by email (email address: ay7@swd.gov.hk).

For enquiries, please contact the following responsible officers of the Youth Section:
Ms Joanne TAM   Senior Social Work Officer (Youth)1    2892 5112
YU Choi Shing   Social Work Officer (Youth)7    3468 2941

Online Briefing Reply Slip (in Chinese)
Service Specifications (in Chinese)
Annex 1 - ASP Application Form (in Chinese)

Following the online briefing on the implementation of the School-based After School Care Service Scheme (Expanded Programme) held by the Social Welfare Department (SWD) on 26 June 2024, document below is provided :

PowerPoint Slides (in Chinese)

List of Service Centres interested to join the (Expanded Programme)  (in Chinese)

List of Participating Schools (in Chinese)

Frequently Asked Questions (in Chinese)

• Starting from 28 July 2023, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) expands the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong. The expansion measures include to invite applications from operators of residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) with experience and satisfactory track records in providing subsidised elderly residential care services in Hong Kong and are operating RCHE(s) in Mainland cities of the Greater Bay Area (GBA) to register their RCHE(s) in GBA cities as the Recognised Service Provider (RSP) under the GDRCS Scheme.

• For the details of the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong, you may click here. 
• Joining the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong as Recognised Service Providers, please click here to download the Invitation for Proposal and annexes. (Chinese version only)
• For enquiries, you may contact the Residential Care Services Section of Elderly Branch.

• Starting from 28 July 2023, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) expands the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong. The expansion measures include to cover elderly persons waitlisting under the Central Waiting List for subsidised nursing home places.
• Currently, nursing home places are provided at The Hong Kong Jockey Club Shenzhen Society for Rehabilitation Yee Hong Heights and The Hong Kong Jockey Club Helping Hand Zhaoqing Home for the Elderly only.

Eligibility Criteria
The elderly persons who have been assessed and matched for residential care services under the Standardised Care Need Assessment Mechanism for Elderly Services and are waitlisted for subsidised care and attention places or nursing home places on the Central Waiting List (CWL) for Subsidised Long Term Care (LTC) Services.

How to Apply

1. Elderly persons who are waitlisted for subsidised residential care services in the CWL and would like to apply for the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong may contact their responsible workers to file an application for GDRCS Scheme.
2. New applicants of LTC services may approach Medical Social Services Units, Integrated Family Service Centres or elderly centres to make an application and request for referral for subsidised LTC services.  Through initial screening and assessment as appropriate, they may apply for LTC service, including GDRCS Scheme, in accordance with their assessment results after their care needs have been ascertained in the Standardised Care Needs Assessment.

• For the details of the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong, you may click here.
• For enquiries, you may contact the Residential Care Services Section of Elderly Branch at 2961 7234.

For enquiries, please contact the following responsible officers of Residential Care Service Voucher Office:

For details of the SPED and application eligibility, please click here.