A new initiative as part of the Support Programme for Employees with Disabilities (SPED) will afford Hong Kong employers with workers who have disabilities the opportunity to apply for a one-off subsidy to the value of HK$ 40,000. The subsidy can be used by employers to modify their workplaces to make them more accommodating for disabled workers.
The SPED initiative, a part of the Social Welfare Department (SWD), will see the one-off grant given to every employer in respect of each employee with disabilities for the procurement of assistive devices and workplace modifications. Examples include accessories or adaptive computer equipment, optical magnifying devices, hearing or assistive devices and Braille products.
To be eligible for the subsidy, applicants must be an employer of workers with disabilities and must be nominated or referred by organisations including NGOs that operate SWD subvented vocational rehabilitation services, NGOs that run training courses for persons with disabilities, the Vocational Training Council or the SPED Administrator (Po Leung Kuk).
Applications are open year-round and employers are permitted to submit more than one application. The HKSAR Government said that employers must submit their completed application form together with the required documents to the SWD through the referring organisations.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
