Review Qualification Criteria for Grandparent Caregiver Relief Claims

Parliamentary Question by Mr Zainal Sapari:

To ask the Minister for Finance whether the eligibility criteria for Grandparent Caregiver Relief claims can be revised to allow for such claims when the caregiver (i) draws income below a certain threshold (ii) spends a majority of the time in the caregiver role and (iii) looks after children up to 16 years old.

Parliamentary Reply by Minister for Finance, Mr Heng Swee Keat:

The Grandparent Caregiver Relief is given to working mothers who enlist the help of their parents, grandparents, parents-in-law or grandparents-in-laws to take care of their young Singaporean children aged 12 years old or less. 

2    The relief is intended for care-giving for young Singaporean children. We have thus set the age threshold at 12 years old and require the grandparent caregiver not to be working, as the children are young and require adult supervision.