C.S. 166
CONFIDENTIAL
XCC(77)65
機密
Copy No.
Page 13 of 19
4.. of 80
Unmet social risks
32
Social security in Hong Kong has already developed very considerably in this decade, But there is still a significant area of social risk uncovered in Hong Kong. Where a person is sick, unemployed or retired from work, he can expect an income only if he received it as a result of his previous employment-either directly (as an occupational benefit) or indirectly (he has been able to save or make other private provision e. g. through an insurance policy) - or if his circumstances are so difficult that he is entitled to help through the public assistance scheme, the community care allowance scheme or the accident compensation schemes. This may not be a worrying situation for those with private means or a good employer: but it leaves a substantial proportion of the work force who would be hard hit by prolonged absence from work through sickness or unemployment although the proposed improvements in the public assistance scheme and the proposed incapacity allowance should offer some relief.
Sickness, injury and death benefit scheme
33
To meet these needs, it is suggested that the Government
should propose the establishment of a centrally administered voluntary
contributory sickness, injury and death benefit scheme (11
杰
1. The scheme would, in general, cover all employees so
long as they wanted to join, but not the self-employed, because of the difficulty of checking whether or not a self-employed person was working.
34
(a)
(b)
(c)
The scheme would have the following advantages:
it would encourage acceptance of the idea that social security is not something that is provided only by the Government out of general revenues or by an employer Instead, it may be something in which an employee has a positive role to play;
>
it would provide a new source of financial protection for those who are outside the present social security net and whose employers do not provide significant social bene- fits;
it would meet an area of need which is not now met. And it would be an area of need recognised by people in Hong Kong. There appears to be much less community support for further aid to the unemployed beyond the recent ex- tension of public assistance to cover them.
a false exgment?
CONFIDENTIAL **