Government help schemes favour families in greater need

We thank Ms Jenny Khoo Swee Siang for her feedback regarding the government letter on the Care and Support Programme (Don't use annual value of home to determine help needed, July 31).

We wish to clarify that this payout is given to all Singaporeans aged 21 and above this year, regardless of housing type.

The payout ranges from $300 to $900, depending on one's income and whether they own more than one piece of property.

Those 50 years old and above this year receive an additional $100, while parents with at least one child aged 20 and below this year would have each received an additional $300.

Our overall aim is to ensure that government assistance is weighted towards families in greater need of social support.

There is no perfect measure for family income and wealth. We therefore use a varied range of eligibility criteria for different schemes, and fine-tune and

review them over time to ensure they continue to meet their objectives.

For example, the GST Voucher scheme uses a property annual value threshold of $21,000, which covers all HDB flats, a good number of condominiums, and lower-value landed properties.

In addition to the annual value, we also consider the income and number of properties owned.

Other recent schemes such as the $100 Solidarity Utilities Credit and also the Care and Support Package were given to all Singaporean households across all residential properties to extend additional help to as many citizens as possible during this challenging period.

Lim Yuin Chien

Director, Corporate Communications,

Ministry of Finance