As part of the Made for Families initiative, the government is looking to provide greater support for couples who are having their second child, as well as parents who are not eligible for paternity or adoption leave due to their employment arrangements.

New schemes to support these groups were introduced during the Committee of Supply debates for the Prime Minister's Office on Friday (Feb. 26).

Doubled co-matching for the second child

Minister in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Indranee Rajah said that the government will be doubling the maximum dollar-for-dollar government co-matching of parents' savings in the Child Development Account (CDA) for the second child, from S$3,000 to S$6,000.

The government also makes a S$3,000 contribution to each child's CDA without requiring parents' contributions, under the CDA First Step Grant.

This means that the maximum total government contributions for the second child's CDA will increase from S$6,000 to S$9,000.

All Singapore citizen children who are the second child and whose date of birth or estimated date of delivery is on or after Jan. 1, 2021 will be eligible for the increased co-matching.

The government will co-match parents' savings up to the increased cap from April 1, 2021.

Parents whose children qualify, and had saved into their child's CDA before April 1, 2021 will also receive the increased co-matching.

In all, parents can receive up to S$24,000 in financial support for their second child, including the Baby Bonus Cash Gift, Baby Support Grant, Government contributions to CDA and Medisave Grant for Newborns.

Here's a table for clarity:

Cash benefits for working fathers & adoptive parents

To support working fathers and adoptive parents who may not qualify for paternity or adoption leave due to their employment arrangements, the government will also introduce two benefits:

• Government-Paid Paternity Benefit (GPPB)
• Government-Paid Adoption Benefit (GPAB)

This will benefit parents who would not be eligible for paternity or adoption leave, such as those who may have been on short-term employment contracts, or contracts that ended just before their child was born or adopted.

According to Indranee, the new benefits are similar to the Government-Paid Maternity Benefit for working mothers, where a cash benefit is given in lieu of the government-paid share of leave if one's employment circumstances do not qualify them for leave.

These benefits will apply to parents whose children's date of birth, estimated date of delivery, or formal intent to adopt is on or after Jan. 1, 2021.

To qualify, parents must have worked for a total of at least 90 days in the 12 months before their child's birth, or the date of their formal intent to adopt.

More details on the eligibility criteria and application process will be released later.

Made for Families initiative

The Made for Families initiative is a brand mark under the National Population and Talent Division (NPTD).

It was first launched in June 2020 and aims to assure families in Singapore of support from the government and community at large as the country emerges stronger from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Another scheme that is part of the Made for Families initiative includes the Baby Support Grant (BSG).

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) announced in Oct. 2020 that the government will be providing a one-off BSG of S$3,000 for babies born from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sep. 30, 2022.

This was later extended to include babies whose certified estimated delivery date was on or after Oct. 1, who were born before Oct. 1.

Top image from Made for Families SG on Facebook.