SINGAPORE – Low-income families with children will be empowered over the longer haul to improve their lives, as the Government shifts its approach in helping these families from providing social assistance to social empowerment.
For families with children living in highly subsidised Housing Board rental flats under the Community Link (ComLink) scheme, the Government will introduce additional measures that are tied to progress on plans tailored to help each family in three areas.
The Forward Singapore report released on Friday said the Government could provide higher and longer-term financial payouts to ComLink families, as long as they work towards longer-term goals – such as staying employed, saving up to buy their own homes or ensuring their children attend pre-school regularly.
During a press conference on Friday, Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli said these financial incentives serve to recognise and supplement families’ efforts in working towards improving their lives.
“We will ease their short-term resource pressures and support them for their long-term plans,” he said, adding that more details on a new approach called ComLink+ will be released in the coming weeks.
ComLink+ builds on the existing ComLink programme that started in 2019, where low-income families with children are given coordinated and comprehensive support for needs ranging from job assistance to their children’s development.
While Singapore has made progress in reducing income inequality, the Government wants to do more to boost social mobility, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Oct 19 when he first sketched the broad outlines of ComLink+.
This is to ensure that no family here gets trapped in a permanent underclass, he said, adding that there are early signs that social stratification is becoming more entrenched.
Mr Masagos said participants in the Forward Singapore conversations felt that the Government’s efforts to help the low-income must not “kill this motivation for them to be self-reliant and independent”.
Beneficiaries also said that maintaining their dignity is important, he said.
To help families achieve their goals, ComLink officers will be trained as family coaches to work more closely with each household.
The Forward SG report said the Government has been doing more to help disadvantaged and vulnerable groups over the years, and will continue to do so.
“At the same time, we have sought to ensure that government actions do not lead to a greater sense of dependency and entitlement,” it said. “Instead, we want government actions to complement and reinforce individual and family effort, as well as contributions from other stakeholders.”
Ms Khalisah Samsuri, head of Sengkang Family Service Centre, run by AMKFSC Community Services, said some low-income families face multiple stressors such as ill health and caregiving responsibilities.
Their circumstances and lower educational qualifications affect their job prospects and incomes. And they may not work in jobs that offer Central Provident Fund contributions or other staff benefits, so this further affects their ability to save up to buy their own homes, among other things, she said.
She said of the ComLink+ approach: “It takes some time for families to be stable and to truly break out of the poverty cycle. It is also a form of motivation and hope for them to strive towards financial stability and self-reliance within their own unique circumstances.”
Another of the Government’s plans is to encourage more lower-income families to send their children to pre-school by the age of three.
This is because the enrolment and attendance of children from such families at the ages of three to four tend to be lower than the national average, the report said.
Ms Khalisah said: “The families we work with usually have multiple struggles to juggle at any point of time, and hence may not be able to prioritise their children’s early development needs.”
Getting these children into pre-school from an early age is necessary to reduce the risk of their development lagging behind that of their peers when they enter Primary 1, said the report.
A Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) spokesman told The Straits Times: “As part of the Forward SG conversations, there was recognition that more must be done to make pre-schools more affordable and accessible for lower-income families, to give children a good start.”
Thus, the Government will give each child from all lower-income families the maximum amount of childcare subsidies for their households’ income tier.
The MSF spokesman added that childcare subsidies for lower-income families are currently means-tested so that households earning up to $6,000 a month can pay from as little as $3 to up to $115 a month for full-day childcare at a pre-school run by an anchor operator.
The spokesman said more details will be provided when they are ready.
In addition, some government-supported pre-schools will be given extra funding or manpower to better support the needs of children from lower-income families.
This will go towards engaging the parents more frequently to ensure that they take their children to school regularly, and helping children with learning needs to keep up with their peers, among other things.
Mr Masagos said the Government is committed to making Singapore a nation where people with disabilities and their families can participate and contribute fully. Plans are outlined in the Enabling Masterplan 2030, which sets out “the vision for Singapore as an inclusive society in 2030”.
Stronger support for people with disabilities includes areas of lifelong learning, employment and living in the community rather than in institutions, he said, as well as participating in social activities.
Support for families
The report also noted plans to help families in general balance caregiving with career aspirations.
To support parents who may not have other care arrangements, the Government will increase the number of infantcare places at childcare centres by about 70 per cent, which amounts to an additional 9,000 spots by 2030.
It will also work with service providers to introduce “affordable, safe and reliable” childminding services as another option for families looking for infantcare services.
Such childminding services are not widely available now and can be costly, the report said.
The MSF spokesman told ST that several private companies are now providing childminding services. There are also individuals who offer more informal and ad hoc care for infants, typically in the childminder’s home.
The spokesman said the ministry will provide more details when they are ready.
The report noted that the Government will study the feasibility of further increasing paid parental leave while managing the impact of longer leave on business costs and operations.
On Friday, Mr Wong said that people have asked for more parental leave and more caregiving leave. But it is not so straightforward to implement, considering the impact on businesses, he said.
He said: “Nevertheless, we will study, we will engage different groups and we will consider, perhaps down the road at a time when it’s more conducive. Some of these ideas may materialise.”
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah said a mindset change among employers and the community to bring about more flexible work arrangements is needed, for Singaporeans to better balance work and raising a family.
“It will not be possible to keep mandating more and more of this type of leave, and more and more of that type of leave,” she said. “But if every sector looks to see how you can make work arrangements more flexible so that parents can take time off, that will make a huge difference.”
