Maternity leave and lift safety are among the issues that will be addressed in the policy address of Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor next month.

The government will apparently offer subsidies to businesses to extend maternity leave to 14 weeks – the first adjustment to the practice in 48 years, according to Sing Tao Daily, sister newspaper of The Standard.

Female employees are currently entitled to 10 continuous weeks of maternity leave. It is understood the government will bear the costs of the additional four weeks.

But there will be a cap to the subsidy. Workers whose salary is higher than a certain amount will not receive the full subsidy and the employers will have to cough up the difference.

According to figures from the Census and Statistics Department, there were 55,000 births from mid-2017 to the middle of this year. Women giving birth were mainly aged between 25 and 40 – about 70 percent – and earning a monthly median of HK$18,000.

Based on those figures, the government will need to pay an estimated additional HK$500 million each year for the extra four weeks.

The framework is expected to be announced in the policy address, with the Labour Advisory Board discussing the matter before legislation is worked on.

The policy will reportedly be applied initially to civil servants.

Labor’s representative on the board, Bill Tang Ka-piu, said it is time the government extended maternity leave and he agreed there should be a limit to the government’s subsidy.

The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions supported the extension as well, while also calling for paternity leave to be extended to two weeks.

The Hong Kong Small and Medium Enterprises Association’s honorary chairman Danny Lau Tat-pong said it would be unacceptable to set the cap at HK$20,000 per month or less, but businesses may be more supportive if the cap was set at HK$40,000 or higher, as they are far less likely to hire workers in the higher salary range.

“If it is HK$20,000 or below, it would be unacceptable,” Lau said.

“The average salary in Hong Kong is about HK$18,000, and small and medium enterprises usually hire workers with a salary of about HK$20,000.”

The government is also said to be planning to launch a scheme to help residents in old buildings by renovating lifts following a series of accidents.

The renovation work will be coordinated by the Urban Renewal Authority in a scheme similar to the Operation Building Bright 2.0.

Although private property owners can apply for maintenance funds, they usually do not put the resources to improving aging lifts.

sophie.hui@singtaonewscorp.com