Why Was a Retirement Study Accused of a Cover-Up?

What research did the Central Policy Unit do?

In January 2011, lawmakers revealed the Central Policy Unit had studied retirement protection since 2004, surveying 5,000 households with data in hand by 2007 — yet the government never published the findings, drawing cover-up accusations. Labour chief Matthew Cheung told LegCo the financial crisis had struck just as the study finished and welfare policy had since moved on, making the data outdated and “inconvenient to publish”. Lee Cheuk-yan fumed: was the result too ugly, proving government failure? Chan Mo-po blasted the closed-door approach.

What are the “three pillars” of retirement protection?

The government’s stated trio — MPF, CSSA and personal savings — which lawmakers said all had “short piles”.

What about hidden elderly?

Hidden-elderly suicides were rising; since 2008 the government added HK$60 million in recurrent funding for about 200 outreach social workers for solitary seniors, while the welfare sector pushed “one social worker per estate”. Workers can start retirement saving early via funds at MPF fund comparison.