Hong Kong Social Welfare System

The role of Government and Non-government organizations
The Hong Kong social services are provided by government and non-government organizations (NGOs). Hong Kong government has been pursuing a “small government” policy, in which the Labour and Welfare Bureau and Social Welfare Department are responsible for social services policy making, directing social services development, funding for services, performance monitoring, as well as providing statutory social security and emergency relief directly to the public. Most of the community social welfare services are provided by NGOs. NGOs provide quality subvented services according to government policies, and develop additional resources to provide non-subvented services. NGOs also assist the government in formulating policies and planning services, innovating services, social networking such as community care, supportive groups and self-help organizations, and continuously reflecting services needs and views of service users to Social Welfare Department. Hong Kong social services are mainly provided by Registered Social Workers, and Social Workers Registration Board is responsible for registration and supervision of social workers on professional conduct to ensure the rights of service users are protected.

In the last century, 1920s-1930s, Hong Kong's social services were mainly community care work provided by local squires and foreign missionaries; after World War II, there were needs of large-scale relief work in the community, charities and welfare agencies gradually established, the Government also set up "Social Welfare Section" to deal with social welfare issues; in 60s-70s, "Social Welfare Section" formally changed to "Social Welfare Department", Hong Kong started formal and systematic development of social services, the Government began providing "discretionary allowance" to NGOs, implying the Government only made up the shortfall after consideration on resources of funded agencies; in 1980s, the Government launched standard cost subsidizing system to provide actual reimbursement for NGOs, and social services developed towards professional accompanied with flourishing development social service organizations. Today, "Lump Sum Grant Subvention System" is introduced to provide more flexibility for subvented NGOs to deploy resources, the Government also sets up various funds to support and promote social welfare services. Enterprises are mobilized to participate in caring community activities; government, business and public joint hands to promote corporate social responsibility and contribute to the community.

In order to monitor NGOs more effectively, and to mobilize the community to support social service development, the Government adopts using “Allowance and Service Agreement”, “Service Quality Standards” and “Service Performance Assessment” to supervise the subvented NGOs, while Societies Ordinance, Companies Ordinance or other relevant ordinances are used to monitor Non-subvented NGOs. Fundraising activities are coordinated and monitored by different government departments. The Government also supervises NGOs through Inland Revenue Ordinance, in which NGOs qualified under Section 88 of the Ordinance with services aiming at helping people in need, promoting education, religious or other social activities with charitable nature can be approved as "charitable bodies". Tax exemption is not only granted to “charitable bodies”, but also granted to individual and group donations to these organizations.

The recent years, the expenditure on social welfare accounts for some 17% of the recurrent Government expenditure, which expenditure on social security is over 70%, allowances to NGOs and contracted services are contributed to more than 20%, and less than 10% of expenditure is used to cover the operational expenses on Social Welfare Department including personnel related expenses and statutory services.

Hong Kong Social Welfare Policies
Hong Kong’s social welfare policies mainly consist of social services and social security. In Hong Kong, there are different aspects of social services such as services for elderly, rehabilitation and medical social services, family and child welfare, services for young people, offenders as well as community development. Services can be conducted in community-based, residential-based, home-based, outreach-based and unit-based.

Services of Elderly are one of important part in social welfare policy and accounts for a large part in social services expenditure. The mission of elderly services is to enable our elders to live in dignity and to provide necessary support for them, so as to promote the well-being of elders in all aspects of their life through the provision of a wide spectrum of services to facilitate them to remain living in the community, or to provide residential care that suits the varying needs of elders whenever necessary. For rehabilitation and medical social services, rehabilitation services aim to acknowledge the equal rights of people with disabilities to be full members of the community by assisting them in developing their physical, mental and social capabilities to the fullest possible extent and by promoting their integration into the community, while medical social services are conducted by medical social workers stationed in public hospitals and specialist out-patient clinics to provide timely psycho-social intervention to patients and their families and help them cope with or solve problems arising from illness, trauma or disability. Medical social workers also play an important role in linking up the medical and social services to facilitate patients' recovery and rehabilitation in the community.

Family is the vital component of our society, and provides an intimate environment in which physical care, mutual support and emotional security are normally available to foster the development of children into healthy and responsible members of society. Family and child welfare services are to preserve and strengthen the family as a unit, to develop caring interpersonal relationships, to cater for family needs through the provision of a continuum of preventive, supportive and remedial services, and to provide suitable services to meet needs that cannot be adequately met from within the family. Services for young people assist young people in facing complexities and challenges of adulthood a wide range of programmes and activities and necessary assistance, supporting for their healthy development to become responsible and contributing members of society.

The objective of services for offenders is to help them reintegrate into the community as law-abiding citizens through both community-based and residential services in social work approaches, prevent them from committing crime again and equip them with the necessary skills to deal with life demands. Community development aims to promote social relationship and cohesion within the community, and to encourage the participation of individuals in solving community problems, improving the quality of community life and social belongings. It also serves the deprived and transient communities where the provision of welfare services and facilities was inadequate or non-existent.

Hong Kong Social Security System
Social security accounts for a significant role in Hong Kong’s social welfare policies. Social security in Hong Kong is to provide for the basic and special needs of the members of the community who are in need of financial or material assistance. Social security support can assist financially vulnerable to withdraw from extreme hardship, and provide short-term and emergency financial assistance to people in need. Social security system is wholly supported by government revenue (tax), which is a non-contributory system. It comprises the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme (CSSA), Social Security Allowance Scheme (SSA), Criminal and Law Enforcement Injuries Compensation Scheme (CLEIC), Traffic Accident Victims Assistance Scheme (TAVA) and Emergency Relief.

The CSSA Scheme provides a safety net for those who cannot support themselves financially to bring their income up to a prescribed level to meet their basic needs. The objective of the SSA Scheme is to provide a monthly allowance to Hong Kong residents who are severely disabled or who are 65 years of age or above to meet special needs arising from disability or old age. The CLEIC Scheme aims to provide financial awards to persons (or to their dependants in cases of death) injured as a result of a crime of violence, or by a law enforcement officer using a weapon in the execution of his duty. The TAVA Scheme is to provide speedy financial assistance to road traffic accident victims (or to their dependants in cases of death). Payments are made for personal injuries with non-means tested, and do not take into account the element of fault leading to the occurrence of the accident. Emergency Relief is to help victims of natural or other disasters and also for evacuees of buildings and premises considered to be dangerous under Closure Orders by means of providing cooked meals (or cash-in-lieu of meals) and relief articles, or to provide prompt assistance to persons in need of urgent and non-compensational grants.

For the prevention and detection of fraud and abuse of social security benefits, Special Investigation Section is set up in Social Welfare Department to conduct data matching and in-depth investigation on suspected social security fraud cases and follow up reported suspected cases of deception and abuse of social security benefit.