In view of high labour mobility and the practice of paying wages on a daily basis within the catering and construction industries, Industry Schemes (IS) have been established to make MPF participation as convenient as possible for workers and employers in these industries.

Better Convenience and Higher Efficiency

As an employee within one of these industries, you do not have to change schemes if you change employment within these two industries, so long as your previous and new employers are registered with the same Industry Scheme.

For example, if you are a construction worker who works for several sub-contractors at different building sites during a week or a month, you will not have to change schemes as long as all the sub-contractors are registered with the same MPF Industry Scheme.

Apart from providing convenience to you as a scheme member, this minimizes the administrative cost of transferring accrued benefits from one scheme to another. Furthermore, employers who have enrolled employees in Industry Schemes may choose to make contributions for daily-paid casual employees on the next working day following the pay-day according to a contribution scale. If this mode of contribution is used, the employers do not have to provide employees with monthly pay records.

Catering and construction industry employers may opt for Master Trust Schemes that are designed for all trades and industries.

Scale of Contributions

For Casual Employees
Under MPF legislation, "casual employee" refers to any person employed in the catering and construction industries by an employer on a day-to-day basis or a fixed period of less than 60 days.

(1) Daily-paid Casual Employees
The scale of contributions designed for employees who are paid on a daily basis is as follows:

Scale of contribution(HK$)
Daily Income	Employer's Contribution	Employee's Contribution	Total Contributions
Less than 160	7.5	Not required	7.5
160 or more but less than 260	7.5	7.5	15
260 or more but less than 390	15	15	30
390 or more but less than 520	22.5	22.5	45
520 or more but not more than 650	30	30	60
More than 650	30	30	60

(2) Non Daily-paid Casual Employees
For casual employees who are not paid on a daily basis (e.g. on a weekly or bi-weekly basis), both the employee and the employer are required to make a contribution equal to 5% of the employee's income, subject to the maximum contribution of $32.5 per day. Employees earning less than $5,000 a month do not need to contribute but their employers are still required to contribute 5% of the employees' income.

For Regular Employees
A "regular employee" refers to an employee who has been employed for 60 days or more. For these employees, both the employee and the employer are required to contribute 5% of the employee's income. Contributions are generally made on a monthly basis. Employees earning less than $5,000 a month do not need to contribute but their employers are still required to contribute 5% of the employees' income. For employees earning more than $20,000 a month, mandatory contributions are capped at $1,000 for the employer as well as the employee.

For Self-employed Persons
"Self-employed person" refers to any person who works for him or herself and is not an employee. If you are a sole-proprietor or partner in a business partnership irrespective of the trade or industry, you will be regarded as a "self-employed person". Self-employed persons are also required to contribute 5% of their income. The above minimum and maximum income levels also apply to self-employed persons.

Penalties
As an employer, if you fail to enrol your relevant employees in one of the registered MPF schemes available in the market, you are liable to a fine of $100,000 and imprisonment of six months on first conviction. The same offence committed by a self-employed person carries a fine of $50,000 and imprisonment of six months

Coverage of the Catering Industry
For the purpose of Industry Schemes, the catering industry covers holders of food business licences or permits under the Food Business Regulation (Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance), canteens at schools and workplaces, and catering establishments inside clubs. The following are examples of catering establishments:

1. Food factories, milk factories, frozen confection factories and bakeries
2. Restaurants
3. Factory canteens
4. Siu mei or Lo mei shops
5. Cold stores
6. Fresh provision shops
7. Cooked food stalls operating in public markets
8. Cooked food stalls which are granted hawker licences
9. Chinese herb tea shops

Coverage of the Construction Industry
The construction industry covers the following eight major categories:

1. Foundation and associated works
2. Civil engineering and associated works
3. Demolition and structural alteration works
4. Refurbishment and maintenance works
5. General building construction works
6. Fire services, mechanical, electrical and associated works
7. Gas, plumbing, drainage and associated works
8. Interior fitting out works

The following are examples of establishments and units engaged in construction works:

Registered with the Buildings Department

1. General building contractors
2. Specialist contractors in the ventilation category

Registered with the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department

3. Electrical contractors
4. Lift contractors and escalators contractors
5. Builders' lift contractors
6. Gas contractors

Others

7. Fire service installation contractors registered with the Fire Services Department
8. Holders of a plumber's licence issued by the Water Supplies Department
9. Public works contractors with an approval letter by the Works Bureau
10. All sub-contractors to which projects or works are delegated directly or indirectly from any contractors specified in 1 to 9 above.