Withdrawing MPF on Terminal Illness: Inside the 2011 Consultation

On 20 December 2011, the MPFA issued a consultation paper proposing a sixth ground for early MPF withdrawal: “terminal illness”. At the time, Hong Kong’s 2.57 million MPF members could only withdraw early under five specific circumstances — and the terminally ill were not among them.

MPF early withdrawal for terminal illness: what did the MPFA propose?

In December 2011, the MPFA proposed allowing members diagnosed with a terminal illness to withdraw their MPF early — a new sixth ground for early withdrawal. Applicants would need a doctor’s certification; how to define remaining life expectancy (six or twelve months), how many doctors’ certificates were needed, and whether withdrawals would be lump-sum or partial were all left to the consultation, which ran until the end of March 2012.

The five existing early-withdrawal grounds at the time

Why only terminal illness?

Rimsky Yuen, chairman of the review working group, explained that MPF was meant for retirement savings; for someone with a terminal illness, saving for life after 65 had “lost its meaning”. Other suggestions — buying a flat, children’s education — were dismissed as impractical: MPF contribution rates were low and the scheme was never designed to meet those needs. The consultation ran until 31 March 2012, with the MPFA planning to submit recommendations to the government in the third quarter of 2012 and implementation at the earliest in 2013. Some labour-sector legislators, however, called the proposal “mean”, arguing the threshold was too strict.

Full guidance on early withdrawal is available at the MPF education hub.