More financial help and childcare leave on MPs' wish list for families

Extended childcare leave and increased financial support were among ideas raised by MPs to better support Singaporeans who wish to start and raise families.

More than 20 MPs spoke in Parliament on Feb 5 as part of a motion put forth by Ms Hany Soh (Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC) and Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim (Chua Chu Kang GRC) for the Government to review its policies to better support families in marriage and parenthood.

Responding, Minister of State for Social and Family Development Sun Xueling and Minister of State for Manpower Gan Siow Huang highlighted the Government's recent initiatives to support Singaporean families in providing childcare and flexible workplace arrangements.

Among the proposals from the six-hour-long session was one to increase the number of childcare leave days.

Workers' Party MP Louis Chua (Sengkang GRC) said that with parents needing to care for their young children whenever their pre-schools close - which could be up to eight working days a year - the existing number of childcare leave days are not sufficient.

Similarly, Mr Louis Ng (Nee Soon GRC) said childcare leave should be allocated on a per-child basis.

"Working parents with children under seven years old can take up to six days of childcare leave every year. This is six days - no matter whether you have one, two, three, four or more children. How does this make sense?" he said.

He said children fall sick at different times, adding to the need for more leave.

"Without sufficient childcare leave, parents who run out of childcare leave then face a choice between being there for their sick child or work," Mr Ng said.

Ms Yeo Wan Ling (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC) said "significant strides" have been made, in the form of the new shared parental leave scheme that offers parents flexibility in how they want to share leave.

But more can be done to support both employers and workers, she added.

Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) employers with less resourcing often struggle to find temporary replacements when their staff go on parental leave, she said.

"This burden frequently falls on other colleagues, and this can be overwhelming, especially in smaller teams."

"With SMEs employing up to 70 per cent of the Singaporean workforce, I urge the Government to explore solutions that will support SMEs in this area, so that employees can take parental leave with the peace of mind that their jobs remain secure."

She also called for more conducive workspaces for lactating mothers.

"While the majority of employers we speak with have provisioned for adequate lactation spaces, we still hear from the ground, women who have to use toilet cubicles to express breast milk, or to store their expressed milk in communal fridges, next to someone's salad or packed lunch."

To help with the cost of raising children, Mr Xie Yao Quan (Jurong GRC) suggested giving a sum of $600 to every school-going Singaporean child between seven and 16 years old as part of a Child Development Bonus. This aims to support children's development as they enter their formal schooling years, he said.

MPs also brought up the need for flexible work arrangements to support parents in managing work and family commitments.

Mr Yip Hon Weng (Yio Chu Kang) spoke about the need for family-friendly workplace policies like staggered hours, hybrid work, and perhaps even four-day workweeks to give parents more time with their children.

Ms Sun said that full-day infant care places have increased nearly threefold over the past decade, from around 6,000 places in 2015 to around 16,000 in 2024.

Full-day childcare places also rose from around 115,000 places in 2015 to around 200,000 places in 2024, she said, while a childminding pilot for infants that started in December 2024 is in its early stages.

Ms Sun said the household income ceiling for subsidies has been raised from $7,500 to $12,000 in 2020. It has also increased the subsidy quantum across all eligible income tiers so that more families could benefit.

For the past decade, parents have seen their out-of-pocket payment for fees decrease as there is significant funding provided to these government-supported pre-schools to lower fee caps, she added.

Efforts are being made to close the gap in pre-school enrolment for children from lower-income families, she said, a key example being the ComLink+ Progress Package for Pre-school that started in 2024. The package provides families with a $500 payout into their children's Child Development Account if they are enrolled in pre-school in the year they turn three.

The families also receive a further $200 payout for each quarter of good attendance.

Since August 2024, close to 1,500 ComLink+ families and their children have been placed on this package, Ms Sun said.

She said the Government has invested significantly in programmes targeted at families with children who have developmental needs.

The capacity of the Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children (Eipic) and Eipic-P has increased to 7,300 places in 2024, a rise of almost 80 per cent from 2020, she said, adding that lower-income families also pay less for early intervention.

"Median-income families now pay $210 for EIPIC and $300 for EIPIC-P. This is about half of what a similar family would have paid previously."

Nominated MP Syed Harun Alhabsyi spoke about the need to support non-nuclear families. A nuclear family is defined as consisting of both birth parents and their children typically living in one home.

He expressed hope for the Government to continually review and update its policies to support single parent households and blended families, which refers to those that comprise a couple, any children that they have together, as well as children from their previous relationships or marriages.

"The truth is, families can fail, marriages can be upended, and parenthood aspirations can go awry, the effects of which can be damaging for both partners and their children," he said.

Ms Sun said that for married couples facing relationship challenges, the Strengthening Families Programme at Family Service Centre (FAM@FSC) provides a continuum of support that begins even before they reach the point of divorce.

For example, through family counselling and related resources, we hope to help families overcome their differences and remain intact as a unit, she added.

"Nonetheless, we understand that there will be cases where some family relationships cannot be repaired. In such instances, the well-being of the children is a paramount consideration."

She noted that since July 2024, all divorcing couples with minor children must attend a mandatory co-parenting programme, which encourages parents to make informed decisions that prioritise the well-being of their children.

On flexible work arrangements, Ms Gan said the authorities are working with tripartite partners to support employers in taking up these arrangements, with more details to come during the upcoming debate on the Manpower Ministry's budget.

Trust and communication are needed for such arrangements to work, she said.

"Employers should assess requests for flexible work arrangements based on business grounds and communicate the outcome of the assessment to the employees, while employees should be open to exploring mutually acceptable solutions if employers are unable to provide the requested arrangements," she added.

In her closing speech, Ms Soh noted that the motion was held on the eighth day of Chinese New Year, with the number eight associated with wealth, prosperity and success.

"I hope that it is an auspicious sign that the wish list that my parliamentary colleagues and I have drawn up in our speeches earlier for more financial support for Singaporeans will materialise, perhaps even as soon as at the upcoming Budget 2025."