Leading the charge: Hong Kong pro-establishment group to fight changes that would stop bosses raiding workers' retirement funds to meet severance pay

A pro-establishment political group is leading a campaign against any government move to strip employers of their right to raid an employee's Mandatory Provident Fund account to offset payments due when the worker leaves the company.

The Business and Professionals Alliance warned that the business sector was strongly against scrapping the so-called offsetting mechanism, and warned the sector's support for Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's government could be in question.

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Under the mechanism, employers can use their contributions to the compulsory saving scheme to pay long-service and severance payments.

Leung pledged in his 2012 election manifesto to "progressively reduce the proportion of accrued benefits" that can be used in such a way, and reports last month suggested he was likely to set out plans to act in his policy address next year.

The alliance said it appreciated the concerns of unions about the mechanism, but warned scrapping it would harm the business environment - to the detriment of workers. It put forward its position after meeting major business chambers and trade associations, as well as some independent pro-establishment lawmakers.

"The general views are that the business sector strongly opposes the idea," alliance lawmaker Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen said.

"We hope the government could do studies on the economic impact of such a move before putting it forward."