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The summer holidays have begun and many students are working at summer jobs during the long vacation. The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA) reminds summer job workers to pay attention to their Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) rights. They should report to the MPFA as soon as possible if they find their employers have failed to enrol them in an MPF scheme or make contributions on time.
 
Summer job workers should note the following:
 
Scheme enrolment
 
According to the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance, except for exempt persons, employees aged 18 to 64 who have been employed for a continuous period of 60 days or more are required to join an MPF scheme. As long as the age and the employment period criteria are met, employers must enrol their employees, whether they are summer or part-time workers, within 60 days of the start of their employment in an MPF scheme and make contributions on time.
 
Contribution amount
 
The amount of MPF contributions is subject to minimum and maximum relevant income levels. Employees earning less than $7,100 monthly do not have to make contributions, but their employers still need to contribute 5% of the employees’ earnings. If an employee earns $7,100 or more monthly, the employer and employee must contribute 5% each up to a maximum of $1,500 per month each.
 
Contribution holiday
 
Employees can enjoy a contribution holiday during which they are not required to make contributions for the first 30 days of employment and the incomplete wage period that follows. For example, if the employment commences on 13 July and the payroll day is the last day of every month, the employee is not required to make MPF contributions from 13 July to 11 August (the first 30 days of employment) and from 12 to 31 August (the following first incomplete wage period).

However, this contribution holiday does not apply to employers, who are required to make MPF contributions for employees from the first day of employment.
 
Fund choices
 
Students on summer jobs are reminded to indicate their fund choices in the enrolment form. There are five types of MPF funds: MPF Conservative Funds, guaranteed funds, bond funds, mixed asset funds and equity funds. Employees should understand the features associated with each type of fund, such as fees, risks and investment strategies, as well as their own risk tolerance level before making a decision.
 
Personal accounts
 
When students return to school after the summer holidays, their MPF contribution account will be turned into an MPF personal account for continued investment in the original scheme. The MPFA advises students to keep the account documents, including the Annual Benefit Statements and the Fund Fact Sheets regularly released by trustees. When they enter the job market and open a new contribution account, they may consider consolidating their different accounts for easy management of their MPF investment.
 
The MPFA has a Facebook fan page called Rolling My Money and a publication entitled Embarking on My MPF Journey, which provide useful MPF information for young people. In addition, the MPFA’s mobile phone application MVP@Workplace offers job-searching skills and MPF tips to young people in a free download.
 
- Ends –
 
23 July 2015