MPF Full Portability lets post-May 2025 hires move employer MPF yearly

Employees whose current employment began on or after 1 May 2025 will be able to move the MPF built up from their employer's mandatory contributions to a scheme of their own choiceMpfa from 21 December 2026, under Phase One of MPF Full PortabilityMpfaMpfa. The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority has published a dedicated set of Full Portability pages and rewritten its transfer guidance to set out the new right. The date remains subject to the Legislative Council completing scrutiny of the relevant legal noticeMpfa.

The change ends a long-standing restriction. Since November 2012, employees have been able to transfer only the MPF derived from their own mandatory contributions under current employment — in its entire amount, once a calendar yearMpfa — while the portion derived from the employer's mandatory contributions had to stay in the employer's scheme until employment endedMpfa. From the Phase One start date, qualifying employees can transfer the employer-contribution portion as wellMpfa, in its entire amount once a calendar yearMpfa, from the contribution account in the employer's scheme to a personal account in a scheme of their own choiceMpfa. The employer and employee portions carry separate annual quotas and can be moved together or separately, to the same or different schemes, at different times in the year.

The right works on a per-employment basis. A job change resets the right for the new account. The right cannot be accumulated: an unused year is lost, not carried forward. There is no standing auto-transfer instruction — every transfer needs a fresh request through the eMPF Platform, and employers are not involved in the process.

Eligibility turns on when current employment commencedMpfa: only employment that began on or after 1 May 2025 qualifies under Phase OneMpfa. That date is the day the abolition of the offsetting arrangement took effect, so employer contributions for these employees are no longer available to offset severance or long-service payments. Employees whose employment started before that date must wait for Phase TwoMpfa, for which the Authority says it is supporting the Government on the legislative amendments. The Authority's July 2025 consultation conclusions record that the Phase Two mechanism needs amendments to both the Employment Ordinance and the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance, plus a new account type and eMPF system work, which is why it takes longer.

Employers face no new administrative task. Contribution arrangements are unchanged: employers keep choosing the scheme, enrolling staff and paying both portions into the employer's scheme, even after an employee transfers out. Self-employed persons are unaffected. Full Portability does not apply to ORSO schemesMpfa, and voluntary-contribution balances move only as the employer's scheme rules allow.

But the transfer itself leaves money out of the market for one to two weeks between redemption by the original trustee and subscription by the new one, with a risk of selling low and buying high in a rising market; Employees in guaranteed funds should check the scheme brochure first, since moving out may breach lock-in or other guarantee conditions. A request received by the eMPF Platform on or before 31 December, with correct information, counts for that calendar year even if completion slips into JanuaryMpfa — but late-year requests with wrong or incomplete information risk losing the year's right, so processing time should be allowed. Source: the MPFA's MPF Full Portability guidance suite, which states the 21 December 2026 start date is subject to the Legislative Council completing scrutiny of the relevant legal notice; background on the two phases from the Authority's July 2025 consultation conclusions on full portability of MPF benefits.