Civil servants could receive 10 to 12 hours of family-care leave from 2027 under a government proposal designed to help them deal with sudden family needs without taking a longer period of leave. The proposal, included in the policy address, was discussed at a Legislative Council panel briefing on 23 September 2026.
Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan, Secretary for the Civil Service, said the Civil Service Bureau expected applications to be straightforward. Managers would generally accept the reason given by an employee, while any evidence requested afterwards would also be expected to be simple to provide. Yeung said she believed staff would not generally misuse the arrangement.
The examples under consideration involve short-notice tasks that can disrupt a working day. Alex Chan Yuen-tak, the bureau’s deputy secretary, cited parents collecting children from school after a typhoon-related closure and taking older people to or from residential-care facilities.
Yeung said that accompanying a family member to a medical appointment involving a detailed examination and most of a day could instead mean using personal leave.
The arrangement is not yet a settled entitlement. Officials are still considering whether the leave should last 10 to 12 hours.
The bureau plans to issue guidance to departments with examples for reference. Alex Chan said it would not cover every possible circumstance, but would give departments and civil servants examples to consider when the scheme is introduced.