CR 14/500/77
Sickness, Injury and Death Benefit Scheme
10 April 1978
We were glad to have your letter of 13 Maroh 1978, to Thomas Lee commenting on the points raised by the Government Actuary's Department in his report on the voluntary contributory scheme.
2.
We have considered this report against the background of public comments on the Green Paper, which included an opinion survay of employers and employees and comments from employers associations, trade unions, voluntary agencies, the Hong Kong Council of Social Service and the Labour Advisory Board.
3.
I am also writing to GAD to seek alarification, and further advice, on a mumber of points but I thought you would be interested in our latest thinking on the following aspects of the scheme.
Membership
4.
There appears to be more public support for compulsory membership than we had expected, though it im difficult to determine how much of it is gemiine. A survey by the Home Affairs Department in conjunction with the University of Hong Kong, shows that 41% of the employees asked favoured compulsory participation while 48% did not. It is possible that some of the employers may have pressed for a compulsory scheme in the hope of scuttling the ship.
5.
We believe that, administrative problems notwithstanding, there are political and presentational advantages in a voluntary scheme. Our main consern is that a compulsory scheme might undermine our well- established Public Assistance scheme, under which the poorest benefit on a non-contributory basis. It might lead to the public accusation that the Goverment is seeking to reduce doverrment expenditure by transferring a roportion of PA alients to the contributory scheme.
7.3. Heppell, Esq.,
Department of Health & Social Security, 10 John Adam Street,
London, WC2N 6HD,
England.
/In