Earlier SkillsFuture Credit top-up for those aged 40 to 60 will no longer expire in end-2025

THE one-time S$500 SkillsFuture Credit top-up given in 2020 to Singaporeans aged 40 to 60 – to encourage mid-career reskilling – will no longer expire in end-2025, as originally intended.

Instead, any balance from this tranche will be merged with the upcoming S$4,000 top-up announced in Budget 2024, said Education Minister Chan Chun Sing during his ministry’s Committee of Supply debate on Friday (Mar 1).

But a separate one-time S$500 top-up for all Singaporeans aged 25 and above, also given in 2020, will still expire in end-2025.

SkillsFuture Credit will now have two tiers. At age 25, Singaporeans will receive a base tier of S$500 that does not expire. This can be used for a wide range of over 28,000 approved courses.

From May 1, there will be a new mid-career tier, with the S$4,000 top-up for Singaporeans aged 40 and above.

This mid-career top-up has no expiry date either. As the credit is geared towards boosting employability, mid-career individuals can use it at a suitable juncture, said Chan.

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The mid-career tier can be used for over 7,000 full-time and part-time courses with “better employability outcomes”.

These include full qualification programmes offered by institutes of higher learning; Ministry of Education (MOE)-subsidised full qualifications from the University of the Arts Singapore and the Arts Institutions; SkillsFuture career transition programmes; courses that fulfil the training requirements for Progressive Wage Model sectors; and workplace literacy and numeracy courses.

Other measures in Budget 2024 to encourage lifelong learning for Singaporeans aged 40 and above included subsidies for a second full-time diploma, and a training allowance of half their average monthly income over a year, capped at S$3,000. “In total, our lifetime commitment to help an individual will be around S$300,000 or higher, not counting the training allowance of up to S$72,000,” said Chan.

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The SkillsFuture Level-up Programme will cost the government around an additional S$100 million each year, and more if there is stronger take-up, he added.

The Singapore National Employers Federation called on MOE to consider supporting part-time qualifications programmes with a training allowance as well.

“In a tight labour market, it will be useful to create another pathway where workers remain employed, albeit on a part-time basis, while undergoing skills upgrading,” it said.