Other Supports

Government Initiatives to Promote Employment of Persons with disabilities

To encourage persons with disabilities to secure employment, the Government has launched a host of schemes to promote employment of persons with disabilities.

Pilot scheme on providing subsidy for Higher Disability Allowance (HDA) recipients in paid employment to hire carers

Funding Provision	Remarks
The Scheme provides a monthly subsidy of $5,000 for HDA recipients engaged in paid employment to hire carers with a view to encouraging them to sustain employment.	The monthly income of an applicant must not be less than $7,575 and not exceeding $30,300 (not applicable to persons engaged in self-employment or working from home).
Enquiries：Social Welfare Department Telephone：3468 5635

Service/Scheme under the Selective Placement Division (SPD) of the Labour Department

Service / Scheme	Content
Counselling Scheme for Persons with Disabilities	To strengthen employment support services for job seekers with disabilities, SPD has launched the Counselling Scheme on 1 September 2016 and engaged a non-governmental welfare organisation to provide professional psychological and emotional counselling services for needy job seekers with disabilities. The Counselling Scheme serves to alleviate emotional problems of job seekers with disabilities arising from the state of their disabilities or their personal or family matters, so as to help them concentrate on job hunting and settle in their new jobs promptly, thereby realizing their potentials in employment.
Enquiries：Selective Placement Division of the Labour Department Telephone：2852 4890

Vocational Rehabilitation / Training and Retraining Services

To assist persons with disabilities to secure employment in the open market, there are different organisations and groups in Hong Kong that provide vocational rehabilitation training and retraining services to equip persons with disabilities with the necessary skills to secure employment.

Service / Scheme	Content
Work Orientation and Placement Scheme (WOPS) of the Labour Department's Selective Placement Division (SPD) - Pre-employment Training	The employment consultants of the SPD will advise job seekers with disabilities to take part in a short-term pre-employment training programme under WOPS with a view to enhancing their chance of employment with the participating employers. On completion of the pre-employment training, they will receive a training allowance of $80 per day of training.
Employees Retraining Board	The Employees Retraining Board (ERB) offers courses that are market-driven and employment-oriented so as to meet the changing needs of the employment market. For persons with disabilities and persons recovered from work injuries who constitute one of its special target groups, the ERB provides courses that aim at helping the trainees integrate into the community and achieve self-reliance.
Shine Skills Centre of the Vocational Training Council Group	The Centre offers vocational education and skills training to persons aged 15 or above with special educational needs to help enhancing their employability and realising their potentials.
Integrated Vocational Training Centre	The Centre is set up to provide persons with disabilities with comprehensive vocational rehabilitation services characterised with structured vocational skill training that aim at assisting them in developing their potentials and achieving open employment.
Integrated Vocational Rehabilitation Services Centre	The Centre is set up to provide one-stop seamless integrated vocational rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities. Through work training that is specially designed to accommodate the limitations arising from their disabilities, the trainees are well prepared for potential advancement to open employment.
Supported Employment Training for Persons with disabilities	The Programme aims at enhancing the employability of persons with disabilities by providing them with on the job training, job-related counselling and job attachment. (The service operators will arrange job attachment for each participant. During the job attachment period, which is not more than 3 months, the participants who can fulfill the required attendance will receive a job attachment allowance of $2,000 per month.)
Sheltered Workshop	The Workshop provides persons with disabilities who are not able to take up employment in the open market with appropriate vocational training in a specially designed environment. Its ultimate aim is to enhance their working abilities so that they can move on to supported or open employment wherever possible.

Employment Assistive Tools

Some persons with disabilities require employment assistive tools to work. They can take the initiative to consult with their employers for the provision of suitable tools and work space. For example, hearing impaired persons may need speaker phones / telephones equipped with signal lights, subtitle devices, flash lights or signaling alarm units, etc.; visually impaired persons may need visual-aid equipment, braille, talking and large print computers, telephones with audible devices and tactile indicators, etc.; and physically handicapped persons may require alternations to their work environment such as the addition of ramps for easy access, accessible toilets, adjustable work desks and seats, etc.

Transport Services

• The Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation  “Rehabus Services” (scheduled route service and dial-a-ride service)
• Kwoon Chung Inclusive – “Rehabus Services” (feeder service)

Work from Home

For information about home-based jobs suitable for persons with disabilities, please refer to the booklet on employing persons with disabilities to work from home (available in Traditional Chinese version only) published by the Selective Placement Division of the Labour Department.