Budget 2024: Extra S$600 CDC vouchers for every Singaporean household as Assurance Package gets S$1.9 billion boost

• The government injects an additional S$1.9 billion into the Assurance Package
• Part of the financial support includes CDC vouchers, cost-of-living special payment and U-save rebates
• Social scientists say that these measures are to tide Singaporeans over the high costs of living for the short term, but Budget 2024 also contains longer-term measures

TO HELP residents cope with concerns over cost of living and economic uncertainties, the government will inject an additional S$1.9 billion into enhancements for the Assurance Package.

In his Budget speech on Friday (Feb 16), Finance Minister Lawrence Wong laid out four main additions to the Assurance Package that aims to support Singaporean households.

First, the government will provide an additional S$600 in Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers to each Singaporean household.

The CDC vouchers will be disbursed in two tranches of S$300, with the first at the end of June this year, and the second disbursed in January 2025.

Each tranche will be split equally for spending at participating merchants and hawkers, and supermarkets.

Second, eligible Singaporeans will receive a one-off cost-of-living special payment of between S$200 and S$400 in cash in September, Wong said. The amount of cash payout one gets would depend on his or her assessable income in 2023, which is for income earned in 2022.

To qualify, Singaporeans must be residing in the city-state and be at least 21 years old in 2024. They also cannot own more than one property or have a taxable income of more than S$100,000.

Third, there will be additional one-off U-Save rebates for those living in Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats.

Households will receive additional rebates of between S$220 and S$380 – depending on the size of their HDB flat – which will go into offsetting their utility bills.

Including previously announced U-Save rebates from other support packages, eligible HDB households can receive 2.5 times the amount of regular U-Save rebates in this financial year, said Wong. Households whose members own more than one property are not eligible for U-Save.

Disbursed in four tranches starting from April this year, households can get up to S$950 of rebates in total. “This will cover about four months of utility bills for those living in three- and four-room flats,” said Wong.

Finally, the government will provide another additional one-off rebate for Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC) for HDB flats. This will go towards to offsetting S&CC for half of January 2025.

Along with the regular S&CC rebates, eligible households will receive up to four months of S&CC rebates in total for the 2024 financial year, Wong said.

The Assurance Package was first announced during Budget 2020 by Wong’s predecessor Heng Swee Keat with the aim of cushioning the impact of the planned hike in goods and services tax (GST) to 9 per cent, which has since taken effect from January 2024.

The original size of the package was S$6 billion when it was first announced, but has ballooned to around S$12 billion with the latest enhancements in Budget 2024.

In his speech, Wong reiterated the government’s commitment to permanently defray GST expenses for lower and middle-income households. To do so, it will top up the existing GST Voucher fund by S$6 billion, he said.

“This delivers on our commitment to permanently defray GST expenses for lower- and middle-income households, through the GST Voucher scheme,” he added.

Social scientists told The Business Times that such financial support will help soften the impact of the rising cost of living on Singaporeans, especially those in the low-income or lower middle-income segments.

But they noted that these are short-term measures, and are not sustainable.

Nonetheless, the Budget contains support aimed at improving Singaporeans’ skills, productivity and health, which are more sustainable ways to combat rising cost of living, noted Paulin Straughan, sociology professor at the Singapore Management University.

This includes training allowance for older workers seeking to upskill themselves through full-time courses.

Even though Singaporeans may not feel that they are better off with the additional help as the higher costs of living may remain salient at the level of everyday life, Tan Ern Ser, sociology professor at the National University of Singapore, noted that long-term support is built into Budget 2024. 

“However, my own sense is that retirement financial adequacy would remain a challenge, if a significant number of Singapore households are unable to have adequate savings. It is therefore important that Singaporeans continue to be in a good position to qualify for good jobs, stay healthy and earn a decent salary on a sustained basis, well into their senior years, supported by a vibrant economy,” he added.

Wong also announced that all past and present national servicemen will be getting S$200 worth of LifeSG credits, as a gesture to appreciate their service towards Singapore’s national security.

These credits, which will be disbursed in November this year, can be accessed via the LifeSG mobile application and can be spent at over 100,000 merchants. The credits will be valid for a year after they are issued.