More than 2.4 million Singaporeans to receive $200 to $400 for the Budget 2024 Cost-of-Living (COL) Special Payment in September

Adult Singaporeans who own no more than one property, with annual assessable income of up to $100,000 are eligible, regardless of the type of property they live in

1   At Budget 2024, Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong announced a $1.9 billion enhancement to the Assurance Package (AP) to help relieve cost-of-living pressures for Singaporean households, with more support for lower- to middle-income families. This includes additional cash for eligible adult Singaporeans, Community Development Council (CDC) Vouchers for all Singaporean households, U-Save, and Service & Conservancy Charges (S&CC) Rebate for HDB households.  

Budget 2024 (B2024) COL Special Payment in September 2024 

2   More than 2.4 million adult Singaporeans will receive $200 to $400 in cash under the B2024 COL Special Payment in September 2024, to provide cost-of-living relief for Singaporean households, with more support given to lower- to middle-income groups. Adults who own no more than one property and have annual assessable income of up to $100,000 are eligible, regardless of the type of property they live in. Please refer to the Annex for more details.

Eligibility 

3   Eligible recipients of the B2024 COL Special Payment will automatically receive their payments in September. Citizens may check their eligibility on the govbenefits website (govbenefits.gov.sg) by logging in with their Singpass. 

Modes Of Payment 

Register for PayNow-NRIC to Receive Cash Benefits Sooner

4   Since 2021, the Ministry of Finance has been using PayNow-NRIC as the primary mode of payment for citizens who have linked their NRIC to PayNow through their bank. PayNow-NRIC provides added convenience and privacy for citizens to receive the cash benefits in their bank account, without having to disclose their bank account details to the sender. 

5   Citizens are encouraged to register for PayNow-NRIC with their banks by 26 August 2024 if they have accounts with the twelve participating banks in Singapore¹. By doing so, eligible citizens will receive their B2024 COL Special Payment earlier, from 5 September 2024.

6   Citizens without PayNow-NRIC linked bank accounts but have a DBS/POSB, OCBC, or UOB bank account, may provide their bank account information at the govbenefits website by 27 August 2024. They will then receive the cash benefits via GIRO from 13 September 2024.

Citizens not on PayNow-NRIC and without a valid bank account provided will receive their payment later via GovCash.

7   Eligible citizens who have not linked their NRICs to PayNow, or provided a valid bank account will receive their cash benefits via GovCash. Citizens on GovCash may withdraw their B2024 COL Special Payment at any OCBC ATMs island-wide by entering their 1) Payment Reference Number (PRN), which can be retrieved by logging into the govbenefits website with their Singpass from 23 September 2024, 2) NRIC, and 3) passing the facial verification. They do not require an OCBC bank account to withdraw their payment at the OCBC ATMs. 

8   GovCash recipients can also use the LifeSG app to make payment to merchants by scanning their PayNow/NETS QR code, or transfer payment(s) to their bank account via PayNow-NRIC if they subsequently register for this service.

Singpass App as a Mode of Notification

9   Eligible recipients will only be notified in September 2024, after the B2024 COL Special Payment has been credited. Citizens who have downloaded and completed their one-time setup on the Singpass app will receive notifications through their app inbox. Those who have not downloaded or completed their one-time setup on the Singpass app but have registered their mobile numbers with Singpass will receive SMS notifications.

10   To safeguard against scams, the SMS notification sent by “gov.sg” will only inform citizens of their benefits. Citizens will not be asked to reply to the SMS, click any links, or provide any information to the sender. No messages about the B2024 COL Special Payment will be sent through WhatsApp or other mobile messaging platforms.

Contact Information 

11.   For more information on the above schemes, the contact details are as follows:

Issued by:

Ministry of Finance

Singapore

13 August 2024

 ¹   List of participating banks for PayNow-NRIC are listed in alphabetical order: Bank of China, CIMB, Citibank, DBS Bank / POSB, HSBC Bank, ICBC, Maybank, OCBC Bank, RHB Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Trust Bank and UOB Bank. If the PayNow-NRIC is not linked with any of the participating banks, the payment will either be directly credited to the bank account that was previously used for past payments (if any), or via GovCash.