Pegging Cost of Living Support to Numbers in Households

Parliamentary Question by Mr Gan Thiam Poh: 

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance whether the Ministry will consider conducting a review on the support measures for cost of living relief to be based on the number of family members in each household so that the larger low and middle-income families, especially those with members below 21 years, are not disadvantaged.  

Parliamentary Reply by Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister for Finance Mr Lawrence Wong:

The Government uses a combination of schemes to meet the diverse needs of different families and circumstances. Various criteria are used to determine eligibility depending on the target beneficiaries.  Some schemes like cash payouts are based on individual income eligibility.  Other schemes like the CDC vouchers are given on a household basis.  

Several of our social support measures do take into account family sizes, and especially cater to those with children. For example, to address cost of living concerns this year, every Singaporean aged below 21 years old would have received a one-off $200 top-up to their Child Development Account (CDA), Edusave account, or Post-Secondary Education Account (PSEA). MOE will also be increasing its support for students from lower-income households, including through enhancing the bursary quanta for pre-university and ITE students, as well as revising the income eligibility criteria for MOE financial assistance schemes.  

More broadly, the Government provides support for the education and healthcare needs of all Singaporeans. Our education and healthcare subsidies are given on an individual basis, so larger families receive correspondingly more help. We constantly monitor the affordability of our services, and adjust our subsidies and fee regulations where necessary. For instance, to ensure affordability of childcare services, we will be lowering childcare fee caps in all Government-supported preschools from next year onwards.  

The CDCs, community organisations and grassroots advisers complement government schemes by providing additional support to families in needs based on local needs.

The Government will continue to review the criteria used for our social support schemes, including short-term measures to address cost of living concerns, to ensure that assistance is appropriately targeted at those with greater needs.