Latest News of Jan 2025

The Social Welfare Department is now inviting Non-governmental organisations and the bona-fide non-profit making charitable organisations granted tax-exemption status under section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance, Chapter 112, to submit Proposals for the Operation of the Social and Care Support Service under the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong.

Please click here for further details.

The proposals shall be submitted by hand on or before 5:00 p.m. on 7 February 2025 (Friday).

Public Subscription Permit (Solicitation of Signed Authorisation Forms) for the Latter Half of 2025 is open for application from 1 January 2025.  The deadline for application is 6:00pm on 31 January 2025.

Enquiries can be made by telephone to 3748 9788; by fax to 2838 0441; or by email to eolf4@swd.gov.hk.

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has earlier invited eligible non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to submit proposals for operating 6 service teams under Child Protection Support Service (ChildPRO). This is to announce the assessment result as follows -

Partnership Fund for the Disadvantaged – Regular Portion

Partnership Fund for the Disadvantaged – Dedicated Portion

The fifth round application of the Special Scheme to Import Care Workers for Residential Care Homes will be launched on 19 December 2024 (Thursday) till 6 January 2025 (Monday).  Applicants who intend to submit applications online can access the e-Form from 10:00 a.m. on 13 December 2024 (Friday) to 5:00 p.m. on 18 December 2024 (Wednesday) 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 19 December 2024 (Thursday) and 5:00 p.m. on 6 January 2025 (Monday) 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 19 December 2024 (Thursday) when the e-channel is open for application.  For details, please click [here].

The Social Welfare Department further expands the day respite service network for elderly persons.  To provide comprehensive care and support for elderly persons, their family members and/or carers, more than 110 recognised service providers under the Community Care Service Voucher Scheme for the Elderly will also provide day respite service for any needy elderly persons starting from today (December 1).  For details and service points of the day respite services for elderly persons, please click here.

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has earlier invited eligible non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to submit proposals for operating “After School Care Programme for Pre-primary Children [ASCP(PC)]”.  A Vetting Committee (VC) was set up to conduct assessment of all the proposals received.  Upon the recommendation of the VC, SWD has selected 10 NGOs to operate 12 Centres of ASCP(PC) in the following districts – 

The fifth round application of the Special Scheme to Import Care Workers for Residential Care Homes (“Special Scheme”) will be launched on 19 December 2024 till 6 January 2025.  The application can be submitted by hand, by post or through e-Form.  The fifth 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 fifth round application of the Special Scheme are as follows:

The RCH Applicant should submit the completed application form together with the form of “Information of Imported Workers of Other Schemes”.  

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).  For details about the Special Scheme, the download of the form of “Information of Imported Workers of Other Schemes” as well as the latest median monthly wage of CWs in Hong Kong, please click [here].

In addition, the sixth round application of the Special Scheme will be launched in April 2025.  Details will be announced in March 2025. 

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has earlier invited eligible non-governmental organisations to submit proposals to operate a new residential child care centre (RCCC) (48 places) at Wing A & B, G/F, Tsui Hon House, Tsui Ping (South) Estate, 18 Tsui Ping Road, Kwun 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 Po Leung Kuk to operate the RCCC.

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has earlier invited eligible non-governmental organisations to submit proposals to operate a new Supported Hostel for Mentally/ Physically Handicapped Persons [SHOS(MPH)] and a new Integrated Vocational Rehabilitation Services Centre (IVRSC) at Leung King Estate, Tuen Mun, New Territories and 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 Neighbourhood Advice-Action Council to operate the SHOS(MPH) and IVRSC. 

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

The Hong Kong Paralympians Fund (2025-26) is now open for application. The application deadline for all categories of grants is 2 January 2025 (Thursday), 5:30pm.

For details of the Fund application, please click here to visit webpage.

For enquiries, please contact The Secretariat, Hong Kong Paralympians Fund at 3791 2470.

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.