SLW's opening remarks on welfare, poverty alleviation and children policy areas tabled at LegCo Finance Committee special meeting
Following is the English translation of the opening remarks by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, on welfare, poverty alleviation and children policy areas tabled at the special meeting of the Legislative Council Finance Committee today (April 17):
Chairman and Honourable Members,
In 2026-27, government recurrent spending on social welfare is estimated to be $135.9 billion, accounting for 22.7 per cent of the total recurrent government expenditure for the year, making it first among all policy area groups. Compared with the revised estimate for 2025-26 of $123.6 billion, there is an increase of about $12.3 billion in recurrent spending on social welfare. The increase is about 9.9 per cent. Now, let me highlight how the Labour and Welfare Bureau (LWB) will make use of these resources.
Elderly services
On elderly services, the recurrent government expenditure this year is estimated to reach about $17.5 billion, representing an increase of about 27 per cent over about $13.8 billion five years ago (i.e. 2021-22).
Starting from 2026-27, we will increase the number of Community Care Service Vouchers for the Elderly by 4 000 to a total of 16 000 and the number of Residential Care Service Vouchers for the Elderly by 1 000 to a total of 7 000. The two voucher schemes involve an annual expenditure of about $1.2 billion and $1.97 billion respectively.
Cash assistance
This year's Budget proposes to provide a one-off extra one-month allowance to eligible recipients of social security payments, which will incur an expenditure of about $6,290 million. Similar arrangements will apply to Working Family Allowance households, incurring an expenditure of about $196 million.
To further facilitate cross-border retirement for elderly persons, the 2025 Policy Address announced improvements to disbursement arrangements for portable cash assistance so that Hong Kong elderly beneficiaries retiring in Guangdong and Fujian Provinces may opt to receive government cash assistance directly through their accounts with designated Mainland banks. The new service is expected to be launched in the middle of this year.
Support for persons with disabilities
On support for persons with disabilities, this year's Budget announced two major measures to enhance rehabilitation services, namely to provide about 450 additional spaces for day, residential and pre-school services in financial year 2026-27; and for children with special needs receiving On-site Pre-school Rehabilitation Services, to provide bridging and support services during their first term in primary school starting from the 2026/27 school year. These two measures will in total involve an additional annual expenditure of about $367 million.
Assist working families in childbearing
To assist working families, 15 new aided standalone child care centres will be set up over the next three years starting from 2026-27, almost doubling the existing number of service places.
Child protection
The Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Ordinance came into effect on January 20 this year. The Government will continue to ensure the smooth operation of the Ordinance, including continuously monitoring the operation of the mandatory reporting mechanism, ensuring the adequacy of relevant supportive measures such as emergency placement and professional support, and continuing to provide training for specified professionals.
To strengthen the prevention of child abuse at source, the Government will allocate an additional provision of $96.9 million from 2025-26 to 2029-30 for setting up four Community Parents and Children Centres on a pilot basis, promoting parent-child interaction through play-based services and instilling positive parenting skills in parents. Three of the Centres commenced operation earlier this month, while the fourth is set to begin service shortly.
Implementation of Productivity Enhancement Programme
The Financial Secretary announced in this year's Budget that the Government will take forward the Productivity Enhancement Programme (PEP) as planned. To support non-governmental organisations operating subvented welfare services (NGOs) in implementing the PEP, the LWB and the Social Welfare Department (SWD) have reallocated internal resources and adjusted priorities to help alleviate some of the financial burden on NGOs. In addition, since March 2025, the SWD has relaxed the utilisation of various reserves, streamlined cost apportionment procedures, refined the Funding and Service Agreements signed with NGOs, and more, Since April this year, we have also rolled out a series of new support measures, including extending the coverage of streamlined cost apportionment procedures to the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, the Community Chest and three additional government-funded projects, refining and streamlining the Service Quality Standards, and enabling a more flexible use of the Block Grant provided under the Lotteries Fund, with a view to enhancing NGOs' financial flexibility and streamlining administrative work, assisting them to implement the PEP while focusing their resources and efforts on delivering services, thereby maximising the effectiveness of the use of public money.
Government Public Transport Fare Concession Scheme for the Elderly and Eligible Persons with Disabilities ($2 Scheme)
The Government announced in last year's Budget changes to the $2 Scheme, introducing "$2 flat rate or 80 per cent discount", which has successfully taken effect on April 3 this year, and the overall operation has been smooth. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all Legislative Council Members, District Council members, Care Team members, the local community, and social welfare organisations, among others, for their assistance in the promotion. It is estimated that the implementation of this enhancement measure will save approximately $550 million in public expenditure for 2026-27, including the savings resulting from the reduction of "taking long-haul routes for short journeys" by beneficiaries. The relevant resources can be utilised to address other needs in society, including the aforementioned elderly services and support services for persons with disabilities.
Chairman, this concludes my opening remarks. Members are welcome to raise questions.
The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, Photo source: reference image
