What is the social system in Hong Kong?

In the past, Hong Kong implemented a closed colonial political system and a free port system with low tax rates and non-interference in the economy.

The government's commitment to social welfare is very limited.

In the early 1960s, Hong Kong's economic development began to enter a transitional period, and the manufacturing industry began to flourish. With the rapid increase of population, Hong Kong has gradually become a metropolis with dense population and many factories. With the emergence of various social problems, the demand for social services is increasing, and the voice of establishing a unified social security system is getting higher and higher. After the mid-1960s, Hong Kong gradually established the Du Hui Lifu Plan to provide assistance to low-income people and vulnerable groups. 1965, the Hong Kong government issued the first white paper on social welfare policy, which marked the real start of social security in Hong Kong and entered the development stage.

Compared with other countries and regions in East Asia, the development of social security system in Hong Kong is more special. The arrangement of social security system with social insurance as the core in Hong Kong is very limited, and the social assistance system plays an extremely important role. In view of the great changes in Hong Kong's political, economic and social structure, the original family security is on the verge of collapse, and the traditional function of taking care of the elderly, disabled children and the unemployed by the family has begun to weaken. In order to ease social contradictions and ensure social stability and sustainable development, the Hong Kong government, under the influence of the British social welfare system, began to establish a social assistance system-public assistance system in the early 1970s. 197 1 published two rescue standards, and 1973 published the Future Development Plan of Welfare in Hong Kong. Later, the Hong Kong government issued many white papers on social welfare and social work, which laid a legal foundation for social assistance. It puts forward the partnership between the Hong Kong government and social organizations, which indicates that the social security system in Hong Kong has entered a new historical development period. By the 1980s, Governor MacLehose had devoted himself to the development of public housing schemes and medical care schemes, and social welfare in Hong Kong had made great progress. However, compared with the "welfare society", social welfare in Hong Kong is still limited. Apart from education, medical care and housing, the social welfare projects undertaken by the government at present only include: public assistance, family and child welfare, services for the elderly, rehabilitation, criminal counseling, community development and teenagers.

Hong Kong's social security system includes the following five aspects: comprehensive social security assistance scheme, public welfare scheme, traffic accident casualty assistance scheme, violence or law enforcement casualty compensation scheme and emergency rescue service. The latter three can also be called "accident compensation schemes", which are handled by other specialized agencies. Local social security offices only manage the first two programs. Among them, the public assistance system has been changed from 1993 to comprehensive social security assistance, which is divided into three categories: the second category is "long-term case subsidy", which subsidizes people who receive "standard assistance" for a long time to buy large durable consumer goods; Third, special allowances are paid to meet the special needs of individuals or families. Social assistance in Hong Kong is universal and means-tested. Citizens who do not meet the standard of basic assistance amount can get comprehensive assistance, and there are also a large number of people who do not need means-tested public welfare funds.

The Hong Kong government's understanding of social security is that the cash assistance or allowance provided by the government to those in need is listed as the concept of social welfare together with social services. Its basic principle is that the Hong Kong SAR Government should provide appropriate economic and material assistance to the unfortunate members of society. After the establishment of the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the dominant idea of its social policy is still to strive to reduce government responsibility. Strengthen personal self-protection. Tung Chee-hwa, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, stressed in his 2005 policy address entitled "Developing Economy Together and Building a Harmonious Society" delivered in the Legislative Council on the afternoon of June 65438+ 10/2 that the government's administrative philosophy is: first, to promote economic growth and create more employment opportunities; Secondly, through education and training, every citizen has the opportunity to give full play to his strengths, improve himself and get rid of poverty. The government has invested resources in public housing, medical care, education and welfare (including the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme) to weave a reliable social safety net to provide basic living security for those in need.

Social security in Hong Kong is highly socialized. Before the establishment of a unified social security system in Hong Kong, mainly church organizations were doing some welfare social assistance work, which laid a solid foundation for the development of the social security system in Hong Kong. Before the reunification, there were more than 200 social organizations engaged in social security services in Hong Kong. Among them, there are 65,438+070 elderly service organizations, including the Hong Kong Council of Social Service and subvented organizations of the Social Welfare Department. They are located in various areas of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories, providing various facilities and services, and becoming the right-hand man for the Hong Kong government to provide social security services. Social services and community services in Hong Kong are mainly operated by professional social workers, most of whom have college education or above and are full of pioneering spirit, which is different from the old model of community services in China.

In Hong Kong, social organizations serve the elderly, teenagers, children and other needy members of society, and nearly 70% of them are the elderly. On the one hand, the services provided for the elderly who need help are to encourage them to re-participate in social development and enrich their old age through various services and holding beneficial activities. On the other hand, elderly people who are frail, unable to move or lack care can spend their old age safely through care services. Care services mainly include domestic helpers, day care services and community support services. Through diversified and all-round services, people in need can enjoy government social welfare relief.

Hong Kong's social security system is improving day by day, and it has the following advantages worth learning and learning from China mainland: First, it embodies the principle of combining material security with service security, and provides corresponding social services for the elderly, the disabled, teenagers, children, women, criminals and new immigrants in addition to cash assistance to the poor. Second, it respects the human rights of the recipients. Dignity and privacy. The Hong Kong government calls recipients "customers" and the staff of social security offices are waiters. Only when the "customer" is satisfied can the work be done well. In addition, the bailout money is directly remitted to the bank account of the rescued person, which also respects the privacy of the rescued person. Third, social security work is of high quality and speed. The Social Welfare Department has set up 33 offices in 65,438+09 districts to receive applications for assistance. A complete set of working procedures has been published, brochures, videos and tapes have been made, and a hotline has been set up to explain the qualifications and procedures for social security applications, so that people who come to handle social security affairs can better understand their working procedures and reflect their high quality and rapidity.