Established in 1999

Continued from FrontPage of Article

Expansion of Public Assistance Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility criteria for the Public Assistance Scheme will also be revised. Financially needy individuals, who are permanently unable to work and whose family members are unable to provide adequate support because they have their own families to look after, will now be eligible for Public Assistance. Their family members would be considered as being unable to provide support should they have to support their own children on a household income of less than $1,000 per month.

This revision is welcomed by Mr Matthias Yao, Mayor for South East District. He noted, "I have come across needy elderly residents who have working children. Their children earn just enough to support their own families. They have hardly anything left to give to their aged parents. Placing them on PA would go a long way to helping them with their living expenses."

MCYS will also be launching a new scheme called the ComCare Transitions to provide interim assistance to those who are temporarily unable to work and who do not qualify for Public Assistance. These include those who have medical certificates, or who have heavy caregiving responsibilities etc. These individuals are currently helped on a case-by-case basis.

Besides financial assistance, they will also receive help with their rental, utilities, services and conservancy charges as well as support for their medical expenses. At the same time, case workers may be assigned to help them improve their family circumstances.

ComCare Transitions beneficiaries would be given help for up to 12 months. Assistance may be extended if necessary, subject to reviews of their circumstances. The CDCs will administer this programme

There is currently extensive support for children from low income families to attend pre-school. Besides the government childcare subsidy of $150 for working mothers, or $75 for non-working mothers, low income families also benefit from the Centre-Based Financial Assistance Scheme for Childcare (CFAC). Children who attend kindergarten benefit from the Kindergarten Financial Assistance Scheme (KiFAS). On top of this, the government gives additional subsidies for the pre-school fees of at-risk families on the Healthy Start Programme. These families pay only what they can afford for pre-school. There are also other forms of community help available for pre-school.[1]

To further enhance developmental opportunities for low-income children, MCYS will make changes to the KiFAS and CFAC.

Extension of KiFAS to cover nursery programmes

MCYS will be extending KiFAS support to cover nursery programmes at eligible non-profit kindergartens. Children from low income families will receive subsidies of up to $65 per month to offset the cost of their nursery education. In addition, they may also benefit from the $200 start-up grant. (See Annex C for details)

Increase in CFAC subsidies

MCYS will also be increasing the subsidies provided under CFAC by up to $20 a month. (See Annex D for details) Depending on the family’s income and the birth order of the child, the family will get CFAC subsidies of up to $340 a month. With this increase, a child from a two-child family earning $500 or less a month need only pay $10 a month for childcare. A child in a two-child family earning $1,500 a month need only pay an average of $100 a month for childcare. At-risk families on the Healthy Start Programme may find childcare nearly free.

Expansion of Eligibility Criteria for KiFAS and CFAC

To help relieve the financial burden on parents from lower-income households and encourage them to send their children to pre-school, MCYS will be creating a new tier under the KiFAS and CFAC schemes for families earning between $1,501 to $1,800 a month.

These families with children in eligible non-profit kindergartens will be given 70% subsidy up to a cap of $65 a month under KiFAS (if the child is attending a K1 or K2 programme), or $51 a month (if the child is attending a nursery programme). (See Annex C for details)

Monthly CFAC subsidies of up to $200 will also be extended to such families with children in childcare depending on the birth order of the child. A child from a two-child family earning $1,800 a month, for example, need only pay an average of $150 a month for childcare. In addition, children on CFAC may also be provided a one-off assistance of up to $1,000, to meet the start-up costs of placing the children in a childcare centre (see Annex D for details, and Annex E for an example of how these enhancements may benefit a typical family).

Said Associate Professor Debbie Ong, Chairman of Tampines Family Service Centre and member of the ComCare Supervisory Committee, "The additional help for children from lower income families would help their parents to send their children to pre-school, so that their children will be able to benefit from the developmental opportunities available to them."

Despite the initiatives put in place to help ease the impact of the rising cost of living on the needy, some families may still need additional assistance. Being closer to the ground, Grassroots Organisations and Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) are best placed to help these families.

Last year, Government announced that it would top up the $4 million Citizens’ Consultative Committee (CCC) ComCare Fund by an additional $5 million over 5 years. It would also provide $3 million to VWOs and $2 million to Self-Help Groups to support their programmes to help lower-income Singaporean families over the 5 years.

This year, the Government will be providing a further $10 million to these groups over 4 years, with an additional $5 million top-up to the CCC ComCare Fund, and additional funding of $3 million for VWOs and $2 million for Self-Help Groups. (See Annex F for details)

Minister-of-State for Community Development, Youth and Sports and Chairperson of the ComCare Supervisory Committee, Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon said, "All of these ComCare enhancements will provide greater assurance that nobody needs to go hungry in Singapore, and that every parent can afford to give their child the opportunities to maximise their potential".

These changes will be implemented in July 2008.

ISSUED BY

MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, YOUTH AND SPORTS

^{[1] For example, PAP Community Foundation’s Headstart Fund, Mendaki’s Education Trust Fund, the SINDA’s Pre-School Bursary Scheme, CDAC’s Pre-School Assistance and Support (PASS), and the NTUC’s Bright Horizon’s Fund.}

Source: www.caas.gov.sg Media Release 6 Mar 2008

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