All Singaporean children up to 6 years old to receive $400 Child Development Account top-ups from mid-September 2023

1.   All Singaporean children up to 6 years old in 2023 will receive a one-off top-up of $400 to their Child Development Account (CDA) from mid-September 2023, which is double the top-up in 2022. The top-up will benefit about 240,000 children. 

2.   The CDA top-up is part of the enhancements to the Assurance Package announced at Budget 2023 to provide families with additional financial support in the child’s early years. Singaporean children aged 7 to 20 years this year would already have received a one-off $300 top-up to their Edusave account or Post-Secondary Education Account in May 2023.

3.   The $400 will be credited directly into the child’s CDA from mid-September 2023, or after the CDA is opened, whichever is later. Parents who have yet to open a CDA will need to do so by 30 June 2024 for their children to receive the top-up. 

4.   CDA trustees will be notified via SMS, email, or hardcopy letter, after the CDA top-ups have been credited. Parents can view their child’s CDA balance by checking their bank’s monthly CDA statement.

5.   To guard against scams, SMS notifications sent to CDA trustees would only be from SMS ID “MSF”. The notification will only contain information on the status of the top-up after it has been credited into the child’s CDA. CDA trustees will not be asked to reply to the SMS, click any links, or provide any information to the sender. Messages on the CDA top-up will also not be sent via WhatsApp or other mobile application messaging platforms. 

About Child Development Account (CDA)

6.   The CDA is a special savings account for Singaporean children. The Government will co-match savings dollar-for-dollar, up to the co-matching cap, depending on the child’s birth order. Eligible children will also receive an upfront CDA First Step Grant [1] from the Government which will be automatically credited into the CDA, after the CDA is opened. More information on the CDA benefits is available at www.babybonus.msf.gov.sg. 

7.   Funds in the CDA can be used to pay for the child’s or his/her sibling’s educational and healthcare expenses at Approved Institutions (AIs). These include registered childcare centres, kindergartens, special education schools, providers of early intervention programmes, providers of assistive technology devices, hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and optical shops. The list of AIs can be found at go.gov.sg/listofais.

8.   For enquiries on the CDA top-up, the public may:
      a. Call 1800 111 2222 (Baby Bonus Hotline); or
      b. Visit the FAQs at www.babybonus.msf.gov.sg. 

9.   More information on the Budget 2023 Assurance Package is available at go.gov.sg/assurancepackage.

Issued by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Social and Family Development
Singapore
4 September 2023

[1] For children born on or after 14 February 2023, they will receive $5,000. Those born before will receive $3,000.