Latest News of Jun 2024

The Social Work Training Fund (SWTF) was established under the Social Work Training Fund Ordinance (Cap.1100) and is managed by the SWTF Committee to improve the knowledge and skills of social workers in Hong Kong.  Applications for the SWTF grants in 2024-25 are now invited.  Organisations not operating Social Welfare Department subvented welfare services and individual social workers may apply for grants from SWTF for training activities within the scope specified by SWTF.  For details, please click here.

The Social Welfare Department is now inviting bona fide non-profit making charitable organisations exempted from tax under section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance to submit proposals for operating “After School Care Programme for Pre-primary Children”.  The closing time of application is set for 5:00 p.m. on 16 August 2024 (Friday).

Please click here for further details.

The sixth batch of the Arts Development Fund for Persons with Disabilities (Arts Fund) is open for applications until 23 August 2024 (Friday).  Non-profit making organisations granted tax exemption status under section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112) with at least two years of experience in organising structured arts activities or training programmes for persons with disabilities (PWDs) are eligible to apply.

There are 2 tiers of projects under the Arts Fund.  Tier One projects include the provision of elementary and continuing arts programmes that enhance arts knowledge of PWDs, foster their interests in arts and develop their potential, while Tier Two projects aim at providing funding support to applicant organisations for organising large-scale, impactful and sustainable projects which focus on developing individual PWDs with great artistic potential to pursue their career in performing, visual or creative arts and to enable them to strive for excellence.

Interested organisations may click here for more details and download the latest application form or complete the electronic application form.

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
LO Kai-hung    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)

The results of the second cluster of approved applications for Tranche 9 of the Innovation and Technology Fund for Application in Elderly and Rehabilitation Care has been released.  For details, please click here.

The fourth round application of the Special Scheme to Import Care Workers for Residential Care Homes will be launched on 18 June 2024 (Tuesday) till 2 July 2024 (Tuesday).  Applicants who intend to submit applications online can access the e-Form from 10:00 a.m. on 13 June 2024 (Thursday) to 5:00 p.m. on 17 June 2024 (Monday) for filling in information and saving as drafts in their own computers so as to review or revise the information filled, if necessary.  

Applicants should upload the saved e-Form and required documents through the e-channel between 9:00 a.m. on 18 June 2024 (Tuesday) and 5:00 p.m. on 2 July 2024 (Tuesday) for application submission.  Applicants can also fill in the e-Form and submit the application together with the required documents starting from 9:00 a.m. on 18 June 2024 (Tuesday) when the e-channel is open for application.  For details, please click [here].

The Residential Care Homes Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 2023 (the Amendment Ordinance) was gazetted on 16 June 2023.  The Amendment Ordinance seeks to amend the Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Ordinance, the Residential Care Homes (Persons with Disabilities) Ordinance and their subsidiary legislation with a view to enhancing the regulation and quality of residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) and residential care homes for persons with disabilities (RCHDs).  Most of the new requirements come into operation from 16 June 2024.  

The Social Welfare Department has conducted a series of thematic briefing sessions on the new statutory requirements to the RCHEs and RCHDs, and revised relevant Codes of Practice. For details of the Amendment Ordinance, please click here. 

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has earlier invited non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to submit proposals for the operation of the Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project (the Project) in 18 districts with effect from 1 September 2024. A Vetting Committee (VC) was set up to assess all the proposals received. Upon the recommendations of the VC, SWD has selected the following 19 NGOs to operate the 23 service teams under the Project – 

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 Units 10, 101-106, G/F, Kwai Yan House, Kwai Fong Estate, Kwai Chung, New Territories.  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 Tsung Tsin Mission of Hong Kong Social Service to operate the aided standalone CCC.

The Legislative Council passed the Appropriation Bill 2024 on 8 May 2024 for implementing the measures as announced by the Financial Secretary on 28 February 2024 to provide additional half-month of standard rate for Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients and additional half-month of allowance for Old Age Allowance (OAA) [including OAA under the Guangdong (GD) Scheme and Fujian (FJ) Scheme], Old Age Living Allowance (OALA) (including OALA under the GD Scheme and FJ Scheme) and Disability Allowance recipients under the Social Security Allowance Scheme.  

Eligible recipients will receive the one-off additional payment starting from 4 June 2024 and the payment will be credited to the designated Hong Kong bank accounts of the recipients. Recipients are not required to make application.

The fourth round application of the Special Scheme to Import Care Workers for Residential Care Homes (“Special Scheme”) will be launched on 18 June 2024 till 2 July 2024.  The application can be submitted by hand, by post or through e-Form.  The fourth round application will only accept quota applications submitted by residential care homes for the elderly, residential care homes for persons with disabilities and nursing homes for employment contract renewal with the existing imported care workers.  Details of the fourth round application of the Special Scheme are as follows:

The latest median monthly wage of care workers in Hong Kong has been updated.  According to the statistics of the Census and Statistics Department, the updated median monthly wage for care worker is HKD$14,820 (9 hours of normal working hours per day excluding meal break).  For details about the Special Scheme and the latest median monthly wage of care workers in Hong Kong, please click [here].

To allow potential applicants to gain better understanding on the service content and application procedures of the CCSV Scheme, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) is now inviting interested organisations to attend the above-mentioned briefing session with details as follows:

Date: 5 June 2024 (Wednesday)
Time: 3 pm to 5 pm
Venue: Gymnasium, Lady Trench Training Centre, 44 Oi Kwan Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Please click here for downloading the reply slip

Interested organisations may download and return the completed reply slip to the Community Care Service Voucher Office of the SWD on or before 29 May 2024 by email (email address: ccsv@swd.gov.hk).

For enquiries, please contact PUI Wai-ching (Tel. No.: 2570 6877) or Ms CHAN Man-kuen (Tel. No.: 3107 3168) of the Community Care Service Voucher Office.

Information on additional and planned places of rehabilitation services for the period of April 2024 to June 2024 has been announced.  Please download the information here.

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) announced today (May 2) that two additional residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) located in Foshan and Shenzhen respectively will newly become Recognised Service Providers under the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong (Scheme) starting from May 6. These two RCHEs are operated under partnerships formed by Hong Kong private organisations with experiences and satisfactory track records in providing subsidised residential care services in Hong Kong, and the Mainland elderly service operators.

The information of the two RCHEs is as follows-

Taking into account of the two original RCHEs of the Scheme in Shenzhen and Zhaoqing operated by non-governmental organisations of Hong Kong, the total number of RCHEs registered under the Scheme will increase to four to provide more options for elderly persons waitlisted under the Central Waiting List for Subsidised Long Term Care Services (CWL) and intending to retire in the cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

Elderly persons who are waitlisted for subsidised residential care services in the CWL and would like to apply for the Scheme may contact their responsible workers to file an application.

In addition, the SWD is exploring expansion of the Scheme to include RCHEs solely operated by Mainland entities this year. Liaison with relevant departments in the GBA cities is in progress. On-site inspections were arranged to jointly select Mainland RCHEs which are rated 4 stars or above on the “List of Star-rated Senior Care Organisations” by the Department of Civil Affairs of Guangdong Province based on the standards of “Classification and Accreditation for Senior Care Organisation of China” with a minimum of two years of operational records to join the Scheme as Registered Service Providers.

Details of the Scheme is available at SWD’s website (https://www.swd.gov.hk/en/pubsvc/elderly/cat_residentcare/subrcheplace/guangdong/index.html). 

• 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.

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has earlier invited non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to submit proposals on implementing Social Work Service for Pre-primary Institutions (SWSPPI) in seven SWD districts.  A Vetting Committee (VC) was set up to assess all the proposals received.  Upon the recommendations of the VC, SWD has selected 19 NGOs to operate 34 district-based social work teams (SWTs) as listed below –

The Tranche 10 of the Innovation and Technology Fund for Application in Elderly and Rehabilitation Care (I&T Fund) is open for application on 28 Mar 2024.  

For application details, please click here.

The Street Counter Pass System of Lands Department's (LandsD’s) website has been launched on 1 March 2024.  Applicant organisations of Public Subscription Permit (General Charitable Fund-raising Activities) in need of one-stop service for application of setting up non-profit street counters on government land are required to submit soft copy of latest version of proforma (in MS Excel format) to LandsD via Social Welfare Department with immediate effect.  Download here. 

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

1. a local non-governmental organisation (NGO)/social enterprise (SE) [being a bona fide non-governmental and non-profit-making organisation, charitable institution, or trust of a public character that is exempt from tax under section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112)] or a local private organisation with proven experience of directly providing elderly care services, either CCS or residential care services (RCS), for a continuous period of at least six months immediately preceding the submission date of application; or
2. a local licensed private hospital.

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

https://www.swd.gov.hk/en/pubsvc/rehab/cat_fundtrustfinaid/sped/