Updated: 2026-08-31
Every subsidised long term care service — residential, day centre or home care — passes through one gate: the Standardised Care Need Assessment Mechanism for Elderly Services. The Social Welfare Department (SWD) puts it plainly: "an application for long term care services requires a Standardised Care Need Assessment", and "the Central Waiting List accepts only referred applications" — so you cannot put yourself in the queue. You must be referred, through a District Elderly Community Centre or Neighbourhood Elderly Centre, a Medical Social Services Unit, an Integrated Family Service Centre, or another service unit. The assessment then routes you to one of two sides: community care (day centre or home care) or residential care (care-and-attention home or nursing home). Charges, as SWD publishes them: subvented homes $1,660–$2,060 a month, contract homes $2,060, Enhanced Bought Place Scheme (Category EA1) $1,763; Guangdong homes under the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong (GDRCS Scheme) carry "no home fee payable". Two vouchers: the Community Care Service Voucher (2026-27 face value $4,526 to $10,824 a month, co-payment in six bands) and the Residential Care Service Voucher (from 1 April 2026, $17,015 for a care-and-attention place, $21,982 for a nursing home place). ⚠️ Neither voucher is something you apply for cold — SWD writes to eligible people in order of their Central Waiting List application date. ⚠️ One 2026 change: from 1 April 2026 the Integrated Home Care Services (Frail Cases) and the Enhanced Home and Community Care Services were merged and renamed Home Care Services for Frail Elderly Persons. This article covers how the services divide, how to apply, and the charges SWD publishes. It rates no home and offers no medical advice.
One gate: the Standardised Care Need Assessment Mechanism
Start here, because every subsidised service is decided by it.
SWD's own wording:
"the Standardised Care Need Assessment Mechanism and the Central Waiting List for Subsidised Long Term Care Services provide one-stop assessment and registration, handling applications, waiting and allocation centrally. An application for long term care services requires a Standardised Care Need Assessment; once assessed as needing the service, a person may apply according to the assessment result."
⚠️ The sentence to remember: "the Central Waiting List accepts only referred applications for long term care services".
In other words: you cannot walk into an SWD office, fill in a form and join the queue. You need a referral from one of these:
- a District Elderly Community Centre or Neighbourhood Elderly Centre
- a Medical Social Services Unit
- an Integrated Family Service Centre or Integrated Service Centre
- another service unit, for example a Family and Child Protective Services Unit
What happens next? SWD sets out five steps:
- Apply — to a Medical Social Services Unit, the Integrated Family Service Centre for your district, or the responsible worker at an elderly service unit.
- Initial screening — the responsible worker screens the case and refers the person for assessment as needed.
- Assessment — an assessor conducts the assessment through a home visit and an interview.
- Explanation of the result — the responsible worker explains the assessment result and the service options.
- Care plan — the responsible worker helps draw up a care plan and applies for the appropriate services.
SWD runs Standardised Care Need Assessment Management Offices in Hong Kong, West Kowloon, East Kowloon, New Territories East and New Territories West to coordinate this work.
Already using a service? SWD states that existing users of long term care services who consider that the service no longer meets their care needs may contact a referral office or the organisation currently serving them, and the responsible worker will make an appropriate referral.
Who most needs to know this: families whose relative has deteriorated suddenly and who want a subsidised place now — the first phone call is not to a home, it is to a District Elderly Community Centre or a hospital's Medical Social Services Unit.
After the assessment, which stream do you fall into?
Two categories: community care, or residential care.
| Category | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Community care services | Day care centres/units for the elderly; Enhanced Home and Community Care Services; Integrated Home Care Services (frail cases) |
| Residential care — care-and-attention homes | Subvented care-and-attention homes; contract homes; private homes in the Enhanced Bought Place Scheme; Guangdong homes in the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong |
| Residential care — nursing homes | Subvented nursing homes; contract homes; homes in the Nursing Home Place Purchase Scheme |
⚠️ The home-care service names in the table above are the wording currently printed on the assessment-mechanism page. A different SWD page states that these two services have been merged and renamed — see the next section. Both are SWD's own pages, and this article prints both.
⚠️ 1 April 2026: two home-care services merged and renamed
If your information still uses the old names, this is the part to update.
The note on SWD's “Home-based Community Care and Support Services for the Elderly” page reads:
"From 1 April 2026, the Integrated Home Care Services (Frail Cases) and the Enhanced Home and Community Care Services have been merged and renamed Home Care Services for Frail Elderly Persons. Integrated Home Care Services Teams have been renamed Home Care and Support Teams, and Enhanced Home and Community Care Services Teams have been renamed Home Care Teams."
| Before 1 April 2026 | Current name |
|---|---|
| Integrated Home Care Services (Frail Cases) + Enhanced Home and Community Care Services | merged into Home Care Services for Frail Elderly Persons |
| Integrated Home Care Services Teams | Home Care and Support Teams |
| Enhanced Home and Community Care Services Teams | Home Care Teams |
There are two kinds of home service, and they have different gates
One requires the standardised assessment; the other uses a simpler tool.
- Home Care Services for Frail Elderly Persons: for frail people aged 60 or above in the district who have been assessed under the Standardised Care Need Assessment Mechanism as suitable for community care services or residential care services. Services include "personal care, nursing, rehabilitation exercise and social activities".
- Home Support Services: for people aged 60 or above in the district who are "identified as mildly impaired through a simple standardised assessment tool, or recommended for home support services following a Standardised Care Need Assessment". Services cover "meal service, home cleaning, personal care and escort service". SWD also notes that home support services "also serve persons with disabilities and individuals and families with social needs".
⚠️ This distinction is practical: if the person is only mildly impaired and what they need is meals and cleaning, the route is Home Support Services, using the simple standardised assessment tool — the full standardised assessment is not necessarily required.
Day care centres: from age 60, a different threshold from residential care
SWD's wording: day care centres/units serve frail people in the district "aged 60 or above, assessed under the Standardised Care Need Assessment Mechanism as suitable for community care or residential care services, including those with dementia; the centres provide day care, rehabilitation exercise and social activities, and also provide support and assistance of various kinds to carers."
⚠️ One service can be applied for directly, without a referral: SWD states that for "day respite service", "the elderly person or their carer may enquire and apply directly to the centre or unit", and may also be referred by another unit. ⚠️ But do not read that as “this is the only one”: SWD's emergency placement page sets out a separate out-of-office-hours arrangement under which a person with an urgent short-term residential need may contact directly a private home in the Enhanced Bought Place Scheme that provides designated respite places.
Residential care: two levels, two queues
Age first: the threshold for a subsidised place is not the day centre's threshold.
SWD's wording: subsidised residential places are for "for elderly persons aged 65 or above who cannot live at home for personal, social, health and/or other reasons; persons aged 60 to 64 may also apply, but must be proven genuinely to need residential care."
Two levels of care:
| Care-and-attention place | Nursing home place | |
|---|---|---|
| Cognitive ability | 「稍為欠佳」 (slightly impaired) | 「欠佳」 (impaired) |
| Level of care | 「有限度的護理服務」 (limited nursing care) | 「較高護理程度」; 「定時的基本醫療和護理」 (higher level of care; regular basic medical and nursing care) |
| Social support services | (not stated on the page) | Yes |
⚠️ Both require the person to be 「在精神上適合群體生活」 (mentally suitable for communal living), and in both cases the standardised assessment decides which one you are suitable for — it is not your choice.
What does a subsidised place include? SWD lists nine items, among them "a shared room", "at least 3 meals a day plus snacks", "staff on duty 24 hours a day", "regular visits by a registered medical practitioner" and "therapeutic exercise and therapy".
How much a month? (SWD's own published figures)
| Type of home | Monthly charge |
|---|---|
| Subvented homes | $1,660 to $2,060 |
| Contract homes | $2,060 |
| Enhanced Bought Place Scheme homes (Category EA1) | $1,763 |
| Nursing Home Place Purchase Scheme homes | $2,060 |
| Guangdong homes under the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong | No home fee payable |
The same home can hold two kinds of bed. SWD states that homes providing subsidised places include subvented homes, contract homes, private homes in the Enhanced Bought Place Scheme, self-financing homes in the Nursing Home Place Purchase Scheme, and Guangdong homes in the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong; homes providing non-subsidised places include contract homes, self-financing homes and private homes, and "some subvented care-and-attention homes also have non-subsidised places". ⚠️ So “is this home subsidised?” is the wrong question — ask “is this bed a subsidised bed?”
Cannot wait? SWD also runs "temporary residential services", comprising emergency placement and residential respite, "providing short-term accommodation for elderly people with urgent or temporary care needs". ⚠️ But the entry route differs from day respite: SWD states that "residential respite must be referred by a social worker", and emergency placement likewise requires a social worker's referral; only outside office hours may a person with an urgent short-term residential need contact directly a private home in the Enhanced Bought Place Scheme that provides designated respite places.
Two vouchers: money follows the person, but you wait for SWD's invitation
Both vouchers begin with an invitation letter from SWD; after the invitation, you still have to submit an application form and documents.
| Community Care Service Voucher | Residential Care Service Voucher | |
|---|---|---|
| Face value | 2026-27: $4,526 to $10,824 a month | From 1 April 2026: care-and-attention $17,015 / nursing home $21,982 |
| Means test — assessed on whom | Income of the elderly person and family members living with them | Individual basis (income and assets) |
| Co-payment | Six bands: 5%, 8%, 12%, 16%, 25% or 40% | Co-payment bands apply (separate list of bands) |
| Processing time | Normally, approval and issue completed within 4 weeks of receiving the application | Normally about 8 weeks after the application and supporting documents are complete; depending on complexity and the number of applications in hand, it may take longer |
What the two vouchers share: "money follows the person" — the subsidy goes directly to the elderly person, who may choose and switch service unit or home; and "those who can afford more pay more" — people with less means pay a smaller share.
Two features only the residential voucher has: "a six-month trial period, letting the elderly person try adapting to home life"; and the option to "pay the home extra for additional services, capped at 150% of the voucher's face value".
One feature only the community voucher has: "a mixed mode" — "the elderly person may use day centre services and home care services at the same time".
⚠️ Neither voucher can be applied for cold — and after the invitation, you still have to file. SWD uses the same wording for both: "SWD invites eligible elderly persons by letter, in order of their application date on the Central Waiting List." The “how to apply” section of each page then states that an invited eligible person must complete an application form, and send or deliver it with the required documents to SWD, or submit it through the Voucher Information System for Service Users (VISE). Eligibility in both cases requires having been through the standardised assessment and being on the Central Waiting List. The community voucher adds one condition: "not yet receiving any residential care service or subsidised community care service".
⚠️ The residential voucher's processing time carries a proviso: SWD writes “about 8 weeks”, and adds "depending on the complexity of the application and the number of applications being processed, it may take longer".
Ask about these
Six things to settle before the first phone call:
- Who will refer us? The Central Waiting List accepts only referred applications — a District Elderly Community Centre or Neighbourhood Elderly Centre, a Medical Social Services Unit, or an Integrated Family Service Centre can all do it.
- How old is the person? Day centres and home services start at 60; subsidised residential places at 65, with 60 to 64 requiring proof of genuine need.
- Is the need care, or support? Nursing and rehabilitation → Home Care Services for Frail Elderly Persons (standardised assessment required). Meals, cleaning, escort → Home Support Services (the simple standardised assessment tool may be used).
- Do you need someone to step in for a few days right now? Day respite can be enquired about and applied for directly at the centre or unit. On the residential side, respite and emergency placement must be referred by a social worker; outside office hours, a person with an urgent short-term residential need may contact directly a private home in the Enhanced Bought Place Scheme that provides designated respite places.
- Is the bed you are discussing subsidised or not? Some subvented care-and-attention homes also hold non-subsidised places — two kinds of bed in one home, at completely different charges.
- Both vouchers wait on an invitation — where does your Central Waiting List application date sit? That date decides when you are invited.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I join the queue for a subsidised home myself? No. SWD states that the Central Waiting List accepts only referred applications for long term care services; referral must come from a District Elderly Community Centre or Neighbourhood Elderly Centre, a Medical Social Services Unit, an Integrated Family Service Centre or Integrated Service Centre, or another service unit.
- How is the Standardised Care Need Assessment done? SWD sets out five steps: application; initial screening; assessment by an assessor through a home visit and interview; explanation of the result and the service options; and help to draw up a care plan and apply for the appropriate services.
- How much does a subsidised home cost a month? As SWD publishes it: subvented homes $1,660 to $2,060; contract homes $2,060; Enhanced Bought Place Scheme homes (Category EA1) $1,763; Nursing Home Place Purchase Scheme homes $2,060; Guangdong homes under the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong, no home fee payable.
- What is the difference between a care-and-attention home and a nursing home? On SWD's description, care-and-attention homes serve people whose cognitive ability is 「稍為欠佳」 (slightly impaired) and provide "limited nursing care"; nursing homes provide "a higher level of care" including "regular basic medical and nursing care" and social support services, for people whose cognitive ability is 「欠佳」 (impaired). Which one suits is decided by the standardised assessment.
- Do you have to be 65 to use a day care centre? No. Day care centres/units serve frail people aged 60 or above who have been assessed as suitable for community care or residential care services, including those with dementia. It is subsidised residential places that start at 65 (with 60 to 64 requiring proof of genuine need).
- How do you apply for the two vouchers? Both begin with an invitation: SWD writes to eligible elderly persons in order of their application date on the Central Waiting List. After the invitation you must still submit the application form and required documents — by post, in person at SWD, or through the Voucher Information System for Service Users. Normally the community voucher is approved and issued within 4 weeks of the application being received; the residential voucher takes about 8 weeks after the application and supporting documents are complete, and may take longer depending on complexity and the number of applications in hand.
- Are the means tests the same for both vouchers? No. The community voucher assesses the income of the elderly person "and family members living with them", with co-payment in six bands (5%, 8%, 12%, 16%, 25% or 40%); the residential voucher assesses income and assets "on an individual basis".
- Why have the home services changed name? SWD states that from 1 April 2026 the Integrated Home Care Services (Frail Cases) and the Enhanced Home and Community Care Services have been merged and renamed Home Care Services for Frail Elderly Persons, and the two service teams renamed Home Care and Support Teams and Home Care Teams respectively.
What this article does not claim
- It cites no waiting times. None of the SWD pages opened for this article prints a waiting time for subsidised residential or community care services; waiting periods circulating informally are not used here.
- It names, compares and rates no home or service unit. SWD's pages carry lists of homes and service units (PDF/Excel); those files were not opened, and no organisation name or count from them is cited.
- It cites no Enhanced Bought Place Scheme charge other than Category EA1. That SWD page prints one figure only.
- It cites no co-payment band amounts for the residential voucher. Those amounts sit in a separate downloadable file on the SWD page, which was not opened.
- ⚠️ Two of SWD's own pages differ on the home-care service names, and this article prints both. The assessment-mechanism page still uses 「改善家居及社區照顧」 and 「綜合家居照顧（體弱個案）」; the “home-based” page states that the two were merged and renamed on 1 April 2026. This article does not judge which page is more current; each is quoted to its own source.
- It does not deal with the integration of Elderly Health Service and District Health Centres. The relevant announcements were not opened, so no statement is made.
- It does not deal with ageing in Guangdong, private home charges, or home quality accreditation. Those are the subject of other articles in this series.
- None of the eleven SWD pages opened for this article prints its own update date. Every figure is marked with the effective or as-at date that page itself prints — for example the community voucher's “2026-27”, the residential voucher's “from 1 April 2026”, and the participating-home list's “as at 7 August 2026”.
- It offers no medical advice and judges no individual's service needs. Which service suits is decided by the standardised assessment.
Provenance: compiled from Social Welfare Department official pages; every charge and rule is marked with its source and the effective date that page itself prints.
Quotations from Chinese-language official documents and press materials appear in our own English translation; the original wording governs.
資料來源 (Sources)
- Social Welfare Department, “Elderly Services” overview (page carries no date of its own): https://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/pubsvc/elderly/ (retrieved 2026-08-30)
- Social Welfare Department, “Standardised Care Need Assessment Mechanism for Elderly Services and Central Waiting List” (page carries no date of its own): https://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/pubsvc/elderly/elderly_info/assess/scnam_cwl/ (retrieved 2026-08-30)
- Social Welfare Department, “Residential Care Services” (page carries no date of its own): https://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/pubsvc/elderly/cat_residentcare/introducti/index.html (retrieved 2026-08-30)
- Social Welfare Department, “Subsidised Residential Care Services for the Elderly” (page carries no date of its own): https://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/pubsvc/elderly/cat_residentcare/subrcheplace/index.html (retrieved 2026-08-30)
- Social Welfare Department, “Residential Care Service Voucher Scheme for the Elderly” (page carries no update date of its own; face values from 1 April 2026; article snapshot: participating-home list as at 7 August 2026): https://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/pubsvc/elderly/cat_residentcare/psrcsv/index.html (retrieved 2026-08-30)
- Social Welfare Department, “Pilot Scheme on Community Care Service Voucher for the Elderly” (page carries no date of its own; face values for 2026-27, co-payment band list effective 1 April 2026): https://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/pubsvc/elderly/cat_commcare/psccsv/index.html (retrieved 2026-08-30)
- Social Welfare Department, “Home-based Community Care and Support Services for the Elderly” (page carries no date of its own; its note prints the renaming of 1 April 2026): https://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/pubsvc/elderly/cat_commcare/homebase_ccs/index.html (retrieved 2026-08-30)
- Social Welfare Department, “Day Care Centres/Units for the Elderly” (page carries no date of its own): https://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/pubsvc/elderly/cat_commcare/daycarecen/index.html (retrieved 2026-08-30)
- Social Welfare Department, “Elderly Centres” (page carries no date of its own): https://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/pubsvc/elderly/cat_commsupp/elderly_centres/index.html (retrieved 2026-08-30)
- Social Welfare Department, “Community Care” and “Carer Support” category pages (pages carry no date of their own): https://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/pubsvc/elderly/cat_commcare/, https://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/pubsvc/elderly/cat_careersupp/ (retrieved 2026-08-30)
Compiled by the editorial team from Social Welfare Department official publications; every charge and rule is attributed to its source. This is service information, not medical advice.