The Policy Address, delivered by the Chief Executive on 17th September 2025 under the theme "Deepen Reforms and Committed to People's Livelihood", covers areas such as early childhood development, youth development, elderly care, poverty alleviation, support for persons with disabilities, housing, primary healthcare, and support for carers. It demonstrates the Chief Executive's determination and vision to provide more public resources to improve people's livelihoods based on economic growth, thereby driving social demand and promoting economic development.
The Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Welfare Council (the Welfare Council) supports the reform direction and related measures of the Policy Address and will actively cooperate with the policy direction of the HKSAR Government. The Council has the following responses to this year's Policy Address:
Supporting Continued Targeted Poverty Alleviation
The Welfare Council welcomes the Government's continued efforts in targeted poverty alleviation and looks forward to the Report on Impact of Targeted Poverty Alleviation Strategy in Hong Kong, which is due to be published in mid-2026. The Council recommends that the Government re-evaluates the applicability of the current poverty line to define the different degrees and causes of poverty with greater depth and breadth, thereby identifying needy groups more accurately and formulating targeted poverty alleviation policies. We also suggest establishing a cross-departmental data sharing platform to identify hidden poverty cases and enhance the effectiveness of targeted poverty alleviation; strengthening the support of the Working Family Allowance Scheme or introducing additional educational support packages to reduce the child-rearing burden on grassroots families and maintain their opportunities for social mobility. Furthermore, we recommend optimising the flexible participation model of the "Strive and Rise Programme" to allow young people to selectively or partially participate in activities, enhancing the programme's coverage and practical effectiveness.
Supporting Enhanced Elderly Care
The Welfare Council welcomes the Government's establishment of the "Working Group on Ageing Society Strategies" to address the associated challenges. The Council is also pleased to see the introduction of further measures to enhance support under the policy of "ageing in place as the core, with institutional care as back-up". In terms of ageing in place, the Council suggests the Government promote the application of smart technology, including establishing an electronic platform for the elderly to upload daily health data, combined with remote medical consultation services and community pharmacy dispensing to enhance the convenience and efficiency of medical support. Concurrently, home safety systems could be developed, such as fall alarms and inactivity alerts, and AI chatbots could be introduced to interact with the elderly to identify potential high-risk cases for immediate intervention. Regarding retirement arrangements in the Greater Bay Area, the Council recommends the Government formulate more comprehensive cross-boundary retirement support policies. This includes promoting video consultation platforms and northbound medicine delivery services to facilitate continuous medical support for the elderly residing in the Mainland. We also suggest exploring the possibility of allowing Hong Kong annuities to cover medical expenses and discussing with Mainland authorities the relaxation of restrictions on social insurance purchases. Furthermore, the "Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme" should be expanded to cover all Tier III Class A hospitals in the Greater Bay Area to benefit more elderly people.
Recommending Improvements to End-of-Life Care and the Advance Medical Directives System
With the continuous increase in the elderly population, there is growing societal concern for end-of-life care and autonomy. The Welfare Council recommends that the Government comprehensively strengthens policy support for end-of-life care services. This includes continuing the achievements of the "Jockey Club End-of-Life Community Care Project" by allocating funds to support the sustainable development of community-based palliative care services. It also involves promoting the digitisation of Advance Medical Directives, integrating them with platforms like "iAM Smart" or eHealth, allowing citizens to store and display their directives and enabling healthcare professionals to access them instantly, ensuring the elderly's wishes and choices are respected at critical moments.
Supporting Further Assistance for Carers
The Welfare Council has always been deeply concerned about the needs of carers. We are hopeful to see the Government earmarking an annual recurrent expenditure of $500 million to strengthen support for carers and establishing a carer support data platform to integrate data from different departments for providing precise support to high-risk carers, thereby building a comprehensive carer support network. The Council will continue to fully cooperate with government policies, providing appropriate support to carers in various districts through its community centres and service units, assisting them in building support networks, and encouraging them to make good use of various social resources and services, working hand-in-hand with the Government to create a more friendly support environment for carers.
Supporting the Promotion of Youth Development
The Welfare Council welcomes the Government's efforts to promote youth development through training, international and Mainland exchanges, and increasing interactive spaces for young people. The Council also suggests enhancing channels for youth policy participation. Through electronic platforms (such as "iAM Smart"), young people could provide opinions on specific policies. We also recommend considering the establishment of a Youth Participation Fund to subsidise creative and socially responsive youth projects, thereby enhancing their sense of civic participation and policy influence.
Welcoming Enhanced Support for Persons with Disabilities
The Welfare Council welcomes the Government's strengthened support for persons with disabilities, including establishing guidelines for rehabilitation products, increasing rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities, and expanding support for elderly persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities continue to face structural barriers in employment, housing, healthcare, and social participation. The Council recommends that the Government consolidates employment support resources for persons with disabilities to improve the matching efficiency between employers and service users, and provides incentives to encourage employers to hire persons with disabilities, thereby promoting workplace inclusion in more enterprises. Furthermore, the Council suggests the Government re-examines the resource allocation and staffing of halfway houses to ensure service quality meets actual needs, and reviews and strengthens the staff-to-resident ratio and training resources in hostels for persons with intellectual disabilities to improve care quality and staff stability.
Supporting the Strengthening of Primary Healthcare Services
The Welfare Council supports the Government's further enhancement of community medical and preventive care. We are pleased to see the Government strengthening the functions of District Health Centres (DHCs). We recommend further integrating service functions in the future to promote one-stop health services, including maternal and child health, student health services, and Chinese and Western medicine referrals, implemented in a family-oriented manner to enhance the role of preventive medicine and community health management.
Supporting the Promotion of Mental Health
The Welfare Council supports the Government in implementing the school-based three-tier emergency mechanism, which is based on a strategy of identification, intervention, and treatment, and in extending it to a pilot scheme for Primary 4 to Primary 6 pupils. With 30,000 Light Public Housing units to be completed by the first half of 2027, the Council recommends establishing dedicated mental health support teams in large-scale transitional housing and Light Public Housing projects to provide early identification, referral, and primary intervention services, thereby alleviating the pressure on district mental health services.
Supporting Policies that Encourage Childbirth
The Welfare Council is pleased to see the Government introduce a series of measures to encourage childbirth, demonstrating the authorities' proactive response to the challenges of an ageing population and a low birth rate. The policies mentioned in the report, such as increasing day nursery places, expanding after-school care services, extending the tax deduction for new-born children, and increasing quotas for assisted reproductive services, address the practical considerations of families in their childbearing decisions from economic, service, and social environmental perspectives, and the direction is commendable. To further enhance policy effectiveness, the Council suggests that the Government, on the existing basis, also considers parental leave, childcare facilities, and assisted reproductive services, and continues to learn from the comprehensive family policy experiences of places like Singapore to enhance the child-friendly environment on multiple levels.
Supporting the Promotion of Innovation and Technology
The Welfare Council agrees with the emphasis placed on innovation, technology, and digital development in the Policy Address, striving to build Hong Kong into an international innovation and technology hub. As technology becomes increasingly widespread, we agree that the Government should ensure that the fruits of technological development benefit all sectors of society. The Council suggests that the Government make good use of existing large-scale community event platforms, to integrate innovation and technology promotional elements, allowing the public to access and experience technological achievements with a low threshold. Through these community-focused activities, overall technological literacy can be effectively cultivated, and the application of technology in grassroots daily life can be promoted.
Supporting the Promotion of Patriotism and National Security
The Welfare Council supports the Government in integrating patriotic education into daily teaching and learning and in promoting national security education, recognising that safeguarding national security is the common responsibility of every citizen. The Council will continue to actively cooperate with the Government and promote national identity and the inheritance of Chinese culture through its various service areas, including youth services, elderly services, and family services.
Conclusion
The Chief Executive's 2025 Policy Address demonstrates a forward-looking vision and a pragmatic and enterprising spirit. It is committed not only to deepening institutional reforms but also to placing the well-being of the people at the forefront of its policy agenda, reflecting the Government's determination to respond to social demands. The various policies in the report are interconnected, from strengthening primary healthcare to caring for the elderly and the young. In particular, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and data platforms to identify and support high-risk groups such as carers allows policies to respond more precisely to the needs of different groups, enabling citizens to tangibly feel the integration of reform achievements into their daily lives. The Welfare Council will strive to play its role in connecting the community, working closely with the Government and the industry to jointly transform the policy blueprint into tangible results that benefit the public, and to move forward together on the path of deepening reform and prioritising people's livelihoods to promote the sustainable development of society.