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Budget 2020 Care and Support Package: 470,000 Lower-Income Singaporean Workers will receive $810 million in Workfare Special Payment in October 2020
Topics
Budget
23 October 2020
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Workfare Special Payment provides a boost to the incomes of 470,000 lower-income
Singaporean workers who are on the Workfare Income Supplement scheme.
98% of eligible workers will receive the payment via direct bank crediting.
1. Deputy Prime Minister, Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies and Minister for Finance Mr Heng Swee Keat announced in his Ministerial Statement on 17 August 2020 that the Workfare Special Payment (WSP) eligibility will be widened to include more than 70,000 additional workers[1],who will receive Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) for their work done in 2020, and who are not already receiving the WSP. These workers will receive the WSP of $3,000 from this month onwards. This brings the total number of lower-income Singaporean workers who receive additional support from the Budget 2020 scheme to about 470,000.
2. These lower-income Singaporean workers will receive their October payout of the WSP from 28 October 2020, Wednesday. Most of them would have qualified for WSP earlier and received their first payment of $1,500 in July 2020, for their work done in 2019. They will receive their final payment of $1,500 this month in the same way they receive their WIS payments, i.e. via direct crediting into their bank account on 28 October 2020, or through a cheque mailed to their residential address, by 15 November 2020.
3. Workfare was introduced in 2007 as a permanent scheme to top up the salaries of lower-income workers with less means, and to help them save for their retirement. Since 2007, $6.8 billion in Workfare has been paid to about 890,000 recipients. Targeting Singaporean workers whose earnings are in the bottom 20% of the workforce, the WIS is paid in the form of CPF top-ups for retirement, as well as cash to supplement earned income. WIS was enhanced from Work Year (WY) 2020 - The qualifying income cap was raised to $2,300 per month, and the maximum annual WIS payout was increased to $4,000 per year.
4. Singaporean workers who qualify for WY2019 WIS after October 2020 but before 31 March 2021 will receive the WSP in the month that they become eligible for the WY2019 WIS. For example, worker A qualifies for and receives WY2019 WIS in December 2020, and will also receive the WSP of $3,000 in December 2020. Similarly, citizens who qualify for WY2020 WIS after October 2020 but before 31 December 2021 will receive the WSP in the month they become eligible for WY2020 WIS.
5. The following table summarises the payment timeline applicable to eligible Singaporean workers.
Table caption
Date | For Eligible Singaporean Workers |
|---|---|
26 October 2020, Monday | Notification of October’s Workfare Special Payment (WSP) Those who have registered their mobile numbers with SingPass will receive SMS notifications on 26 October from “SG-Workfare”, informing them of their WSP details. Others will receive letters later in the same week. No response is required. Recipients will not be asked to provide any information to “SG-Workfare”. Those who wish to view the full details of their WSP can do so at www.workfare.gov.sg using the SingPass. |
28 October 2020, Wednesday | Receipt of October’s WSP 98% of the eligible workers have government-registered bank accounts and will receive the October payout of $1,500 or $3,000 via direct bank crediting on 28 October. The remaining 2% will receive the payout by cheque, mailed to their residential address, by 15 November. |
More Information on WSP
6. Please refer to https://go.gov.sg/wsp2020 for further information. For specific, payment-related queries, contact workfare@govtopup.gov.sg or 1800-222-2888. To protect your privacy, we will not be able to respond to queries of an individual nature (e.g. queries on bank account details) received through other channels.
Issued by:
Ministry of Finance
Singapore
23 October 2020
[1] Figure is as at October 2020. Citizens who qualify for Work Year (WY) 2020 WIS after October 2020 but before 31 December 2021 will receive the WSP in the month they become eligible for WY2020 WIS.