Following the National Day Rally by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, details of measures to support Singaporean couples and families were announced on Aug. 28, 2019.

The announcement was made at a joint ministerial media conference by Josephine Teo, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Home Affairs, who also oversees population matters.

Also present were Desmond Lee, Minister for Social and Family Development and Second Minister for National Development, as well as Amy Khor, the Senior Minister of State for the Health Ministry.

Enhanced measures to support marriage and parenthood

More subsidies will be given to support preschool education and healthcare needs to reduce the cost of raising a family, as well as to encourage parenthood among couples.

1. More preschool subsidies for all families

Come January 2020, the gross monthly household income ceiling will be raised to S$12,000 for means-tested preschool subsidies.

Subsidy amounts will also be increased for families that fall within the new income ceiling of S$12,000.

This means more families are eligible for the additional subsidy, as well as the Kindergarten Fee Assistance Scheme

(KiFAS).

KiFAS will be extended to children enroled in partner operators kindergartens too.

It is estimated that about 30,000 more families will benefit from this change.

Currently, 41,000 families are receiving these means-tested subsidies.

The subsidies enhancement should cover more than 60 percent of Singaporeans.

With the enhancement, full-day childcare fees for families earning S$3,000 or less per month can be reduced to only S$3 per month per child at anchor operator preschools.

Here's a summary of the details with four family income examples:

2. Increase government-support preschools

By 2025, 80 percent of preschoolers in Singapore is expected to have a place in a government-supported preschool, an increase from the current 50 percent.

More preschools will be built in areas of demand.

In order to increase the number of preschools in Singapore, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) will be calling for applications from childcare operators for a five-year contract from January 2021.

ECDA will also develop a scheme for "a small number of quality" kindergartens to join as partner operators within 2021, while details are still pending to be confirmed.

The Education Ministry (MOE) will also set up more MOE Kindergartens with the aim to operate 60 kindergartens by 2025.

ECDA has committed to engage partner operators in the next few months to ensure quality, affordable, accessible preschool education.

Partner operators and anchor operators function similarly, but receive governmental funding through different schemes.

However, anchor operators currently have a fee cap at S$770 after GST for full-day childcare, and S$1,364 after GST for full-day infant care, while partner operators’ fee cap is S$856 for childcare and S$1498 for infant care.

Moving forward, fee caps will be lowered for partner operators in 2021 while fee cap for anchor operators will be maintained.

3. Healthcare support for couples and children

The Health Ministry (MOH) also announced an extension of subsidies for all vaccinations under the National Childhood Immunisation Schedule (NCIS) and childhood developmental screenings.

Subsidies will be available at all Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) General Practitioner clinics and polyclinics.

More details will be announced in 2020.

In addition to that, MOH will lift the age limit of 45 years old for women to undergo assisted reproduction technology (ART) treatments.

The limit on the number of ART cycles for all women will be removed too.

Women aged below 40 can undergo 10 ART cycles only while those aged 40 to 45 can undergo five cycles only.

Furthermore, women aged 40 and above will be eligible for the government's co-funding too.

Currently, only women aged below 40 are eligible for this financial support for up to six cycles.

Moving forward, the government will co-fund women aged 40 and above for up to two of the six ART cycles if they had attempted assisted reproduction (AR) or the less invasive Intra-Uterine Insemination (IUI) procedures before age 40.

There will also be co-funding for IUI procedure to better support fertility treatment prior to ART.

Couples undergoing the IUI procedures at the public AR centres can receive co-funding of up to 75 percent, capped at S$1,000 per treatment cycle, for three cycles of IUI.

Free passport for babies born from Jan. 1, 2020

Interestingly, the passport application fee for newborns will be waived for those born on Jan. 1, 2020 and after.

This is in view of the traveling hobby of modern families and parents have to apply for their children online before they turn one year old.

More details will be provided later this year.

Top photo by Jason Fan