THE ComCare Endowment Fund, whose investment income helps fund social assistance scheme ComCare, will get a S$300 million boost to ensure lower-income families continue to be supported in the high-inflation environment.

The move was among social support schemes announced by Finance Minister Lawrence Wong on Tuesday (Feb 14) during the Budget speech. He stressed the need to help families meet basic living expenses and work towards stability and self-reliance.

The government is looking to better integrate the common functions across the different programmes that support lower-income families, and deliver them through the Social Services Offices.

ComLink, which supports families with children living in rental housing, has been rolled out as a nationwide platform serving 14,000 families, said Wong.

Another initiative, Kidstart, provides support for pregnant mothers and young children in lower-income families. Kidstart will be scaled up nationwide and is expected to support 80 per cent of eligible children in lower-income families, starting from children born this year.

Singapore’s spending on the early childhood sector has grown from S$320 million in FY2013 to S$1.9 billion in FY2022.

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Lower-income families now pay as little as S$3 a month for full-day childcare in an Anchor Operator preschool, said Wong.

Yet, the preschool enrolment rate is 80 per cent among children aged three to four years old living in public rental flats – lower than the national average of about 88 per cent.

The government will therefore work with Anchor Operators – selected preschool operators with funding support – to create 22,000 more full-day childcare places and expand the number of Ministry of Education kindergartens.