📋 Tender Overview
Following is a question by the Hon Christine Fong and a written reply by the Chief Secretary for Administration Mr Chan Kwokki in the Legislative Council today October 21
Questions
The Small Claims Tribunal the Tribunal aims to provide a fast track for members of the public to resolve small civil claims without undergoing cumbersome proceedings Currently the Tribunal may only handle claims with a value of up to HK75000 This limit has remained unchanged for years since it was raised from HK50000 to its current level in 2018 There are views suggesting a need to review the aforementioned limit as the sums involved in commercial and civil disputes have risen amid Hong Kongs economic development and changes in property rents and general consumer price index in recent years In this connection will the Government inform this Council
1 of the number of claims received by the Tribunal in each of the past three years 2023 to 2025 and the nature of the major claims broken down by the following claim amounts i HK25000 or below ii above HK25000 to HK50000 and iii above HK50000 to HK75000
2 of the number of cases over the past three years in which claimants have opted to expressly declare in their claim document that they abandon that part of their claim above the HK75000 limit in order to have their cases adjudicated by the Tribunal given that the Small Claims Tribunal Ordinance Cap 338 provides that no claim shall be split or divided and pursued in separate proceedings in the Tribunal for the sole purpose of bringing the sum claimed in each of such proceedings within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal
3 whether the Tribunals current judicial resources and staffing are sufficient to cope with the existing caseload given that the respective average processing times for small claims from filing of a case to first hearing over the past three years 2023 to 2025 were 35 41 and 41 days according to the information provided by the Judiciary in response to the Finance Committees examination of the Estimates of Expenditure 20262027
4 given that years have passed since the limit for claims handled by the Tribunal was raised in 2018 whether the Government and the Judiciary have reviewed the Tribunals claim limit on a regular basis if yes when was the most recent review conducted and what were its findings if not whether reconsideration will be given to further raising the claim limit eg to HK100000 or higher in light of the current economic environment and inflation rate so as to alleviate the caseload of the District Court and provide the public with a more costeffective channel for claims and
5 given that the Judiciary is implementing the integrated Court Case Management System by phases whether the authorities have assessed if full implementation of electronic operations can further enhance the Tribunals efficiency in case handling thereby better preparing the technical support for raising the claim limit
Reply
President
Based on the information provided by the Judiciary the Governments reply is as follows
1 and 2 According to the Small Claims Tribunal Ordinance Cap 338 the Small Claims Tribunal SCT currently deals with monetary claims not exceeding 75000 The major types of claims handled by the SCT include debts service charges damage to property goods sold and consumer claims
The respective number of cases filed to the SCT and the breakdown on the claim amount in the past three years 20232025 are appended below
Claim Amount HK
Number of Cases Filed
2023
2024
2025
25000
33 817 65
39 510 69
39 006 70
25000 50000
7 820 15
8 180 14
7 862 14
50000 75000
10 667 20
9 764 17
9 191 16
Total
52 304 100
57 454 100
56 059 100
The Judiciary does not maintain the other requested statistics
3 Despite the persistent heavy caseload of the SCT with over 50 000 cases each year since 2023 the target average waiting time for the SCT has consistently been met This is mainly attributed to the substantive and dedicated efforts of Judges and Judicial Officers as well as support staff made in encouraging parties to go through alternative dispute settlement mechanism including mediation and outofcourt settlement instead of trials In 2025 over 90 per cent of the cases disposed of in the SCT were settled through alternative dispute settlement mechanism or withdrawal by parties The current resource provisions are adequate to cope with the workload at the SCT The Judiciary will continue to closely monitor the situation and flexibly deploy its resources to support the services at the SCT having regard to operational needs
4 The jurisdictional limit of the SCT was increased from 50000 to 75000 with effect from December 3 2018 The increase was made having regard to a comprehensive and objective review taking into account a host of factors including the need to enhance access to justice impact on demand for and operation of the SCTs services changes in economic indicators as well as stakeholders views Since then the Judiciary has been closely monitoring the caseload of the SCT
According to statistics on cases filed with the SCT involving claim amounts exceeding 50000 the annual number of such cases from 2020 to 2022 was around 43 per cent lower than that in 2019 due to the impact of the COVID19 pandemic on court operations Although the caseload figures increased from 2023 to 2025 such cases remain around 31 per cent on average below the 2019 level The percentage share of such cases has fallen considerably from around 26 per cent in 2019 to 20 per cent in 2023 and 16 per cent in 2025 There does not appear to be an imminent need for increasing the jurisdictional limit of SCT to 100000
Since any further adjustment of the jurisdictional limit of the SCT could have a significant impact on the administration of justice for parties of the affected cases as well as SCTs caseload operation and delivery of its services to court users the Judiciary considers it mo
