Hong Kong NGOs dole out big cash allowances to top staff, study finds
Research by union finds that in one case, a social welfare organisation handed out more than HK$400,000 to a senior staff member as a cash allowance
Close to a quarter of social welfare organisations in Hong Kong that receive large amounts of funding from the government provide top management with sizeable cash allowances, with one company handing out more than HK$400,000 to a senior employee, according to a study.
The Social Welfare Organisations Employees Union found that out of 66 companies that had to reveal such information for the 2014-15 fiscal year, 15 paid their top staff cash allowances exceeding HK$40,000 a year.
The study also found that the total amount handed out by the 15 firms to their top tier three staff was close to HK$6 million.
“We question whether the handing out of these [big] cash allowances is an abuse of public money,” union director general Yau Chi-hang said.
Current guidelines stipulate that if a non-governmental organisation receives HK$10 million or more each year from the government in the form of subsidies and it amounts to more than 50 per cent of its operating income, the organisation is required to disclose information such as the remuneration of top three tier staff.
He noted that one of the groups refused to provide the information, one could not be contacted and one only provided information for the 2015-16 fiscal year. The names of three others were not made known to the union.
Yau said only 10 uploaded relevant information to their website, meaning the union had to contact the others for information.
The Hong Kong Chinese Women’s Club handed out the biggest allowance, with the organisation’s elderly service director receiving a cash allowance of around HK$410,000.
The union noted that the director’s total annual salary was HK$2.15 million, of which HK$1.84 million was funded by the Social Welfare Department.
The club could not be reached for comment.
Po Leung Kuk gave around HK$509,000 to its top two employees.
A Po Leung Kuk spokesman said that when the two employees with the highest salaries were promoted to the first tier, their salary remained at second-tier level, but cash allowances were used to reflect their new responsibilities.
He stressed the cash allowances were part of the total salary and not a bonus.
Yau urged the government to review guidelines introduced in 2000, which they say allow organisations to use public money however they see fit.
He said new rules were also needed to make all government-funded groups disclose in full the wages of their top managers.
A Social Welfare Department spokeswoman said organisations needed to have sufficient justification if they wanted to grant cash allowances to employees.
She added that from this month, the department would in phases provide links to the websites of non-governmental organisations that receive lump sum grants and upload their financial reports to facilitate public inspection.
