Hong Kong pledges lenient approach on 10-12 hours of civil service family leave
Hong Kong authorities have pledged to take a lenient approach when approving applications for a new scheme granting civil servants 10 to 12 hours of family care leave annually from next year. The initiative, first announced in last week’s annual policy address, will allow staff to leave work temporarily to deal with personal matters, such as accompanying family members to hospital or attending…
Hong Kong's civil service authorities have pledged to adopt a lenient approach when granting staff 10 to 12 hours of family care leave per year, beginning next year. The scheme, announced in the annual policy address, enables civil servants to temporarily leave work for personal matters such as hospital visits or parent-teacher meetings.
Secretary for the Civil Service, Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan, expects the application process to be "very straightforward," and believes most requests will be approved without issue. She added that if proof is required later, it will be simple to obtain.
Lawmaker Chris Ip Ngo-tung expressed concern that supervisors might be reluctant to approve leave requests not explicitly mentioned in the guidelines. Deputy Secretary for the Civil Service, Alex Chan Yuen-tak, assured that the bureau is finalizing guidelines to provide departments with a comprehensive reference. The guidelines will cover a wide range of scenarios, including picking up children after sudden school closures or collecting elderly relatives from care facilities in unforeseen situations.
Fellow legislator Chau Siu-chung questioned whether the allocated leave would be sufficient, suggesting the bureau consider increasing the cap and allowing unused hours to be carried forward. In response, Yeung emphasized that 10 to 12 hours annually should be enough for unexpected situations, and employees could also apply for personal or childcare leave if necessary.
The new leave scheme is part of the government's broader strategy to boost Hong Kong's birth rate. However, business leaders have pointed out that the private sector lacks incentive to implement similar measures due to manpower and financial constraints, particularly among smaller firms. Hong Kong employs over 170,000 civil servants, making it the largest employer in the city. In 2024, the government introduced childcare leave, granting each civil servant three days of leave annually for each child under three years old.
Written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post - Hong Kong's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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