The Hong Kong government announced that a new subsidy scheme for employment agencies will be introduced under the sixth round of the ‘Anti-epidemic Fund’ to assist agencies to tide over the difficulties arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.

A labour department spokesman said, “Due to the persistence of the Covid-19 pandemic, the business of EAs (employment agencies) has been seriously affected. In particular, the business of EAs providing foreign domestic helper (FDH) placement service has been affected since the government has to admit FDHs in a gradual and orderly manner and impose flight suspensions to guard against the importation of cases. EAs that do not provide FDH placement service have also been affected due to the economic downturn brought about by the pandemic.”

“The Legislative Council Finance Committee approved on 15 February an injection into the Anti-epidemic Fund to introduce various relief measures for eligible individuals and businesses hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, including a new round of one-off subsidy to EAs further to the round in 2020,” the spokesman stated.

Under the programme, a one-off subsidy will be granted to EAs with a valid licence issued by the labour department. A subsidy of HKD 50,000 (USD 6,409) will be granted for each main licence of an EA that provides FDH placement services. For EAs that do not provide FDH placement services, a subsidy of HKD 30,000 will be granted for each main licence.

An additional subsidy of HKD 10,000 (USD 1,281) will be granted for each duplicate licence for a branch office of both kinds of EA. The scheme will be open for application in the middle of March.