More S'poreans eligible for public assistance with relaxed criteria
By Julia Ng, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 05 March 2008 1927 hrs

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	Special Report • Singapore Budget 2008

SINGAPORE: More Singaporeans will be eligible for public assistance from July when the government relaxes its eligibility criteria to include some applicants whose family members are employed.

A new scheme for temporary assistance was also announced in Parliament on Wednesday.

All in, Ministry for Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) is setting aside S$168 million to help the low income and needy – up 14 percent from last year's S$147.4 million.

For public assistance recipients like 79-year-old Liew Ah Yap and his wife, inflation has eaten into their monthly allowance of S$490.

But from July, they will be getting S$570 – a 16 percent increase. Needy families with four adults will see the biggest jump of 24 percent – up from the current S$670 to S$830.

The allowance for families with one adult and three school-going children will also go up from S$940 to S$1,100.

There is good news too for elderly poor like 75-year-old Low Kang Lang and his 80-year-old wife, Lau Choo Ngoh. They currently do not qualify for public assistance simply because their son-in-law is employed.

But this sole breadwinner has to support his homemaker wife and two schoolgoing children – all on an income of about S$1,000.

"My daughter herself is in financial hardship. She gives us S$50 or S$100 a month. Sometimes she doesn't give and we get nothing," Mr Low said.

But come July, the couple could be among some 600 needy Singaporeans joining the Public Assistance Scheme as the eligibility criteria will be relaxed to include people like them. Presently, there are about 3,000 Singaporeans on the PA Scheme.

To strengthen the social support net further, a new ComCare Transitions Scheme will be launched. This will help those who run into temporary hardships such as when a sole breadwinner dies or meets with an accident and could not work for months.

This new scheme, expected to aid some 1,400 needy households, allows families to get financial help for up to a year.

MCYS is also raising its Centre-based Financial Assistance for Childcare (CFAC) by S$20 a month. This means low-income families earning less than S$1,500 a month pay only about S$100 a month for childcare, while those earning S$500 or less, pay just S$10.

The Kindergarten Financial Assistance Scheme (KIFAS) will be extended to cover nursery programmes so children from poor families will get up to S$65 a month to offset the cost of their nursery education.

Families earning S$1,000 a month will also get a grant of up to S$200 to help with their start-up costs like registration fee, uniforms and insurance.

To allow more lower-income families to qualify for these subsidies, a new eligibility tier will be created so families with a monthly income of S$1,501 to S$1,800 will qualify for a 70 percent subsidy.

This will be capped at S$65 a month for kindergarten courses, S$51 for nursery programmes, and S$200 for childcare. Families which earn less than S$1,500 a month will get a 90 percent subsidy.

Besides keeping childcare services affordable, the centres will also be made more accessible.

Over the next five years, some 100 more childcare centres will be built – mostly within HDB estates and near transport nodes.

Addressing concerns over children from dysfunctional families falling behind in their development, an Inter-Ministry Committee – which includes the home affairs, education and national development ministries – will be set up to review how to help such families.

As for the elderly, MCYS will invest S$3 million over the next five years to help day care centres for seniors enhance their exercise programmes.

Currently, about three-quarters of seniors require transport to take them to such centres. This costs about S$150 a month.

A means test will be introduced later this year to offer up to 75 percent in transport subsidy to help defray the costs for lower-income families.


- CNA/so