Data on MPF offsetting
Dear Labour Department,
In light of the recent abolition of MPF offsetting, and the government now introducing a Subsidy Scheme for Abolition of MPF Offsetting Arrangement (SSA), I assume you will have had to have used data on how many and what proportion of employers were carrying out MPF offsetting of their severance payment to be able to sufficiently support the subsidy scheme. Based on this can you share this data, i.e.:
Before the new policy came into effect what data do you have on companies that were carrying out MPF offsetting from 2024 or the most recent full year of data you have . Specifically what proportion of employers does your data show or estimate were carrying this out? And do you have a number for the total number of employers that carried out MPF offsetting that year? If you have this data are you able to break it down into proportions of small, medium and large companies?
Yours faithfully,
Scott Edmunds
Dear Mr/Ms Edmunds,
I refer to your request for information under the Code on Access to
Information received by our Department on 30 August 2025.
2. The requested information on the statistics of claims for
offsetting severance payment and long service payment against Mandatory
Provident Fund accrued benefits is not in the possession of the Labour
Department. To our knowledge, the statistics relating to offsetting
claims you requested are compiled, published and maintained by the
Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (“MPFA”). You may access the
information requested via MPFA’s website at
[1]https://www.mpfa.org.hk/en/info-centre/r....
3. Should you have any enquiries regarding the relevant statistics or
require further information held by MPFA, you may contact the Access to
Information Officer of MPFA directly
([2]https://www.mpfa.org.hk/en/access-to-inf...).
Yours sincerely,
(Steven YIP)
for Commissioner for Labour
-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Edmunds <[3][FOI #30 email]>
Sent: Saturday, August 30, 2025 11:28 PM
To: MY WONG/LABOUR <[4][email address]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Data on MPF offsetting
Dear Labour Department,
In light of the recent abolition of MPF offsetting, and the government now
introducing a Subsidy Scheme for Abolition of MPF Offsetting Arrangement
(SSA), I assume you will have had to have used data on how many and what
proportion of employers were carrying out MPF offsetting of their
severance payment to be able to sufficiently support the subsidy scheme.
Based on this can you share this data, i.e.:
Before the new policy came into effect what data do you have on I
companies that were carrying out MPF offsetting from 2024 or the most
recent full year of data you have . Specifically what proportion of
employers does your data show or estimate were carrying this out? And do
you have a number for the total number of employers that carried out MPF
offsetting that year? If you have this data are you able to break it down
into proportions of small, medium and large companies?
Yours faithfully,
Scott Edmunds
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Dear EBSD/LABOUR Dept,
Thanks for getting back to me. I see the MPF website you share has data on "claims for offsetting severance payment and long service payment against MPF accrued benefits" , but I'd like to know the denominator.
I.e. I'd like to know how many employers are not offsetting severance payments to be able to make a comparison. Do you have these calculations, or at least do you have statistics on how many people are made redundant each year, and how many of them are eligible and are receiving severance payments?
Yours sincerely,
Scott Edmunds
Dear Mr/Ms Edmunds,
I refer to your further request for information under the Code on Access
to Information received by our Department on 8 September 2025.
2. Please be informed that the Labour Department does not possess the
requested information on the number of employers who are not offsetting
severance payments and the number of people who are made redundant each
year/ who are eligible and are receiving severance payments.
Yours sincerely,
(Ceci YIP)
for Commissioner for Labour
Dear LRD-HQ-REPLY/LABOUR,
Thank you for letting me know. Can I just confirm that the Labour Department, despite setting up a "Subsidy Scheme for Abolition of MPF Offsetting Arrangement (SSA)" does not have any data on the number of people each year who are made redundant, are eligible and are receiving severance payments, or estimates on likely proportions that will be subject to MPF offsetting? As you would need this information to make informed projections on how much money will likely be needed to pay into the subsidy scheme. If you don't have any data then did the Labour set up the subsidy scheme without any calculations and limitations on how much it is likely to pay out?
Yours sincerely,
Scott Edmunds
