By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-04-05 08:41:32 | Updated at 2025-04-05 19:58:48
11 hours ago
Hong Kong lawmakers have called for scrapping some civil service benefits amid a budget deficit, as authorities revealed having spent more than HK$300 million (US$38.6 million) a year on holiday bonuses and another HK$5 million on recreational facilities.
But the government defended the benefits, saying they were mentioned in the employment contracts and that they could help boost worker morale.
Figures provided by the Civil Service Bureau to the Legislative Council’s Finance Committee earlier this week revealed that more than HK$172 million was spent on the Long and Meritorious Service Travel Award Scheme in 2023-24, involving 2,414 civil servants.
The scheme offers holiday allowance to non-directorate officers who had worked for 20 years or more and with records of “consistently very good performance”.
A similar scheme called Leave Passage Allowance, targeting directorate officers, cost the public coffer HK$146 million in 2023-24, shooting up from HK$93 million the year before
A total of 1,750 officers made the claim, with an average amount of HK$83,400 for each application. The average amount has gone up by nearly 40 per cent from HK$59,600 the year before.
The government explained that the rise was due to the end of the pandemic and many civil servants chose to travel and claim their allowance.
