Social work regulator ‘failed to bar offenders’

Willa Wu, Lilian Cheng, Edith Lin Fiona Sun

Hong Kong authorities are planning to add more appointed members and government representatives to a statutory body overseeing social workers, amid accusations that the organisation failed to bar national security offenders.

Lawmaker Peter Douglas Koon Ho-ming yesterday confirmed the government would propose to change the composition of the 15-member Social Workers Registration Board to reverse the current dominance by eight elected workers from the sector.

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han on Friday said the board, overseeing some 27,000 social workers, had neglected to stop offenders from becoming registered professionals.

“The board’s behaviour and decisions have … ignored the overall social interests, undermined the professionalism and public credibility of social workers,” he said in a Facebook post.

The board rejected the claims as “having no factual basis” and “unfair”.

Sun said some of the board’s decisions had deviated from amendments to the Social Worker Registration Ordinance introduced after Beijing imposed the national security law on Hong Kong in 2020.

The amendments took effect on July 22, 2022, and prevented those convicted of offences that endangered national security from registering as social workers or continuing to work in the profession.

Sun accused the board of failing to take concrete action to prevent people convicted of national security offences from registering as social workers.

The Social Worker Registration Ordinance empowers the board to handle the registration of social workers, as well as disciplinary matters.

Eight of the board are social workers elected by their peers, with another six appointed by the government. The director of social welfare is an ex officio member.

The minister also flagged the case of a social worker facing rioting charges but was still appointed to a panel of reserve members for the board’s disciplinary committee at the time, despite objections from their peers.

“All the incidents highlighted the need to enhance the governance of the board to better safeguard national security, protect the public interest and promote the orderly development of the social work profession,” he said.

The board said it invited Labour and Welfare Bureau officials to a meeting in September 2022 to address questions from its members after the ordinance amendments, and spent time and resources on discussions, as well as sought legal advice. It also sent an invitation to officials of the bureau to meet the board’s members again to discuss the differences in the legal advice it obtained and that of the bureau’s, the board said, adding it had not received the bureau’s reply.

“The registration board has always performed its duties in accordance with the requirements of the ordinance and made decisions by considering all relevant factors when handling individual cases,” it said.

It said it was unfair to the board for the government to make accusations about individual cases given the body was not entitled to disclose details about them publicly.

While Sun did not name anyone in his remarks, social worker Jackie Chen Hung-sau questioned whether he was referring to her case. Chen was acquitted in 2021 as the court ruled prosecutors had failed to establish a prima facie case against her. But the Court of Appeal earlier allowed the case to proceed.

“I have not been convicted, isn’t it possible that I may be acquitted? Whether it is in the past or present, I have been working very hard to be a good social worker in the public and private domains,” she said, adding she had years of work experience in homes for children and rehabilitation services. “Why waste my knowledge and experience and reject my effort in the disciplinary committee’s panel?”

Legislator Koon, chairman of the Legislative Council’s panel on welfare services, agreed with the direction of the proposed amendments to change the board’s composition, saying the addition of representatives from different sectors would help enhance transparency. “It should be made more open, otherwise it would be criticised … of underhanded dealings,” he said. “It should be open to more representatives of the sector and also other professions to look into matters from a social perspective.