The rule
Employees and self-employed people aged 18 to 64 must join an MPF scheme, except for people the rules call exempt persons — and domestic employees are on that list. So no employer contribution is made for a helper, she makes none herself, and nothing for MPF may come out of her wages.
Who counts as a domestic employee
The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority defines one as an employee whose contract is wholly or substantially for domestic services in the employer’s home. A foreign domestic helper is the clearest case, and the same exemption covers a local helper, a baby sitter or a gardener working at the household.
What she has instead
No MPF does not mean nothing at the end. She may qualify for a severance payment or a long service payment, and because there is no MPF account in the picture, there is nothing for those to be offset against: what the law says she is owed is what she is paid. Her annual leave, her ticket home and her travel allowance are all separate again.
If something is being deducted, stop
An employer may only deduct from wages what the Employment Ordinance allows, and an MPF contribution for a domestic helper is not on that list — there is no scheme to pay it into. If a deduction like that has been made, it should be refunded, and a helper who cannot get it back can take her payment records to the Labour Relations Division of the Labour Department, free.
This explains the law in plain words. It is not legal advice — confirm with the Labour Department, 2717 1771.
Sources
- Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority — MPF coverage
- Labour Department — Concise Guide to the Employment Ordinance
- Labour Department — foreign domestic helpers
Updated 23 September 2026