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Social service groups in Hong Kong are facing human resources and fundraising challenges in the post-pandemic era, a council coordinating local NGOs has said.
The shortage of registered social workers and insufficient frontline service support were the two main challenges faced by 141 organisations surveyed earlier this month, the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS) said on Wednesday.
The body coordinating NGOs in the social service field in Hong Kong invited 521 member organisations to respond to a questionnaire between October 4 and 15. A total of 141 responses were collected.
The survey found that 121 groups said they were facing human resources challenges, while 110 had encountered difficulties related to financial resources. More than 80 per cent of the organisations surveyed said they had difficulty in recruitment, with social workers and frontline employees such as carers at residential homes being most scarce.
Chua Hoi-wai, chief executive of HKCSS, said on Wednesday that the emigration wave since 2020 had impacted manpower in many sectors, including social services. Many of the social workers or social service industry workers who left the city were experienced employees, leading to a shortage of mid-senior staff in many organisations.
The HKCSS chief also made reference to the city’s ageing population, saying that many veterans of the industry had retired.
“This wave of retirement is worth paying attention to,” Chua said in Cantonese.
Hong Kong has experienced an emigration wave since 2020 amid the aftermath of the 2019 protests and unrest, and amid strict pandemic restrictions during Covid-19. As of June, the UK said that 150,400 people had moved to the UK since London launched an emigration scheme for holders of British National (Overseas) passports. The scheme was introduced after Beijing enacted a national security law in the city.
Chua was also asked if the amendments to the Social Workers Registration Board, which gave government appointees a majority in the city’s social workers’ licensing body, had any effect on the shortage of social workers. The HKCSS chief said the survey focused on challenges encountered by organisations in the last few years, before the amendments were made.
The HKCSS questionnaire found that 44 per cent of the respondents said the funds they received between April 2023 and March this year was similar. But 34 per cent reported a decline, while more than 40 per cent said they expected to record a further drop in the current financial year that will end next March.
The reduction in donations due to the economic downturn experienced since all Covid-related curbs were lifted was reported as the top challenge faced by social service groups, while some organisations also lacked resources for fundraising.
Chua said social service groups should foster “closer” working relationships with their fund providers, rather than merely accepting monetary donations. If corporations or funders could engage in regular volunteer work, or take part in devising special projects, they may be more likely to continue to provide funds or other forms of support in spite a recession, he said.
At present, the Social Welfare Department hands out regular government subsidies to 177 social services groups, of which 34 are HKCSS members. There were also 167 social service organisations under the Community Chest of Hong Kong, an independent organisation that acts as a trustee to allocate money raised to support underprivileged groups in society.
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