Policy Address 2026 | The Labour Union Federation calls for extending the Newborn Baby Incentive Program for another three years; paternity leave increased to at least 7 days

A three-year $20k newborn baby incentive scheme will close on October 24 this year, following a suggestion by LegCo member Fan Kaigjre to make the incentive a permanent policy. The LWF suggests the government extend the newborn baby incentive scheme for three years; establish a statutory parental leave制度, legally protect employees’ right to make flexible work requests to employers, and increase paternity leave to no fewer than 7 days.

▲ The LWF held a press conference today (7th) to outline the recommendations in its policy address. (Provided by the interviewee)

The “Policy Address” is currently undergoing public consultation. Last Friday, the LWF submitted a “Policy Address Recommendations” document to Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, putting forward a total of 51 specific policy proposals across multiple areas including workers’ rights, manpower policies, social livelihood, and civil servants. Today (7th), they held a press conference to elaborate on the details and content.

LWF chair and LegCo member Lam Chun-shing said the city’s birth rate is among the lowest globally. He urged the government to provide financial support and extend the newborn baby incentive scheme for three years. The LWF said that, as of May 31 this year, the scheme’s commitment of about $2.2 billion had only used $1.44 billion. Since the incentive payments are disbursed according to actual number of births, extending the scheme by 3 years is believed to have limited overall impact on the government’s finances.

Lam Chun-shing proposed fully implementing the maternity leave and related leave system, establishing a statutory parental leave制度, legally protecting employees’ right to make flexible work requests to employers, and increasing paternity leave to no fewer than 7 days. At the same time, through public-private collaboration to strengthen assisted reproduction services, they hope to increase service quotas to no fewer than 2,400 in the next five years. Paternity leave currently stands at 5 days. Formerly, LegCo member Kuan Haoming also called for optimizing and extending the current statutory maternity leave and paternity leave.

2026 Policy Address｜LWF advocates tightening the importation of foreign workers dynamically; guards to be placed under Level 2 approval

Regarding the policy on importing foreign workers, LWF secretary general and LegCo member Chow Siu-chung said the “Supplementary Labour Optimisation Programme” (“Optimisation Programme”) has already approved more than 74,000 foreign worker quotas, but currently some industries such as the catering sector have already largely met manpower demand. He suggested establishing a Level 2 approval trigger based on multiple objective indicators, using changes in industry unemployment rates, job vacancies, the number of employer violations of import requirements, employee income levels, and other data as measurement indicators. If the indicators exceed a certain threshold, the industry or occupation should be included under Level 2 approval, or foreign worker imports should be stopped altogether. He suggested the government include security guards under Level 2 approval as soon as possible, and timely add import restrictions for other frontline posts based on actual circumstances to ensure local workers have sufficient employment opportunities.

2026 Policy Address｜LWF advocates providing additional incentives for top-salary-point civil servants with consistently excellent performance

For civil servants, the LWF suggested that consideration be given to providing additional bonuses to top-salary-point personnel whose work performance has been assessed as Grade 1 continuously for five years. The bonus amount would be equivalent to the pay difference of six months between the “next increment point” in the salary scale table, as a tangible recognition of their continued pursuit of excellence, and to encourage other senior staff to keep striving for progress.

In addition, the LWF suggested extending after-school care in schools to cover junior secondary levels; optimising the “re-employment programme.” For participants aged 60 or above who complete 6 months or 12 months of full-time work, they would receive an allowance of up to $15,000 per installment—up to a maximum of $30,000 in total—to encourage early retirees and early-senior “silver-haired” groups to re-enter the workforce.