Social workers overloaded at fifty cases; no NGO resource integration

Hong Kong's social-service system has long faced severe staff shortages, with frontline social workers routinely handling over fifty cases at once and unable to provide adequate support. After the Wang Fuk Court fire, the government's 'one social worker per household' measure piled further strain on an already overloaded workforce, triggering burnout-related collapses and even a death, exposing fundamental structural flaws in the current social-service system.

Interviewees note that a large pool of NGO social-worker resources is not properly integrated and used, while government social workers must juggle existing cases alongside post-disaster support, seriously affecting service quality. Hong Kong lacks an effective platform to coordinate government and NGO social-worker resources to meet sudden social events and everyday support needs.