Budget 2024: Cheaper pre-school, special needs school fees in enhanced social support efforts
Tan Nai Lun
AS PART of its efforts to boost social support, Singapore will make pre-schools more affordable, provide more support to lower-income families, and do more for families of persons with special needs, said Finance Minister Lawrence Wong in his Budget speech on Friday (Feb 16).
To make pre-schools more affordable, Singapore will cut full-day monthly childcare fee caps for government-supported pre-schools in 2025.
Fee caps will be cut by S$40 to S$640 for anchor operators and S$680 for partner operators. These figures are before childcare subsidies are applied.
The government will further reduce fee caps in 2026, with details to be announced later, said Wong, who is also deputy prime minister.
Lower-income families will also receive enhanced pre-school subsidies.
Currently, higher subsidies are given to children with working mothers. They will be extended to all children from lower-income families, including those with non-working mothers.
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To support social mobility, Singapore will introduce ComLink+ progress packages for eligible lower-income families with young children. These improvements will focus on supporting and encouraging actions that these families take to improve pre-school education, employment, financial stability and saving for home ownership.
Under the pre-school education package, if families ensure their child is enrolled in pre-school when he or she turns three, they will get a one-off top-up of S$500 to his or her Child Development Account.
Families that ensure their child attends pre-school regularly from ages three to six will receive a top-up of S$200 to the account for every quarter of good attendance.
Under the employment package, families must secure and sustain a job that contributes to Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts and pays a gross monthly salary of more than S$1,400.
Up to two working adults will receive a combination of cash and CPF payouts amounting to S$450 to S$550, for every three consecutive months of employment. If two adults are working, each will receive S$50 more per quarter.
Those who make voluntary contributions to their CPF accounts will also receive matching grants from the government to grow their savings more quickly.
The total payout across the employment and savings packages is capped at S$30,000.
The government will also partner corporates and community groups to implement the packages. The donors are expected to provide additional financial support to these families and contribute in other ways, such as befriending and mentoring them.
The ComLink+ Progress Packages will be rolled out progressively from the second half of 2024, and will be piloted for three years to assess their effectiveness before a potential scale-up.
The pre-school package will be the first to be implemented. The Ministry of Social and Family Development plans to launch the packages on employment, financial stability and saving for home ownership from 2025.
As for families of persons with special needs or disabilities, the maximum monthly fee at special education schools will be reduced to S$90, from S$150.
The fee caps at all special student care centres will also be lowered to reduce families’ out-of-pocket expenses.
Meanwhile, adults with disabilities will receive more support for their employment and integration into the community. The government will expand spaces in sheltered workshops and day activity centres where they can receive training, and launch more Enabling Services Hubs where they can get community support.
The respective ministers will share more on each of these moves at the Committee of Supply debate, Wong added.
For more of BT’s Budget 2024 coverage, go to bt.sg/budget24
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