29% of lower-income children on ComLink+ attended preschool regularly in 2024: MSF

The percentage of children in lower-income households attending preschool regularly increased by three per cent from 26 per cent in 2023 to 29 per cent in 2024.

89 per cent of children from ComLink+ households are enrolled in preschool as of 2024, said the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).

MSF released these findings in the 2025 Supporting Lower-Income Households Trends Report on Dec. 16.

ComCare

The report noted that these lower-income households can be supported by ComCare, which provides financial assistance for households that are temporarily or permanently unable to meet their daily living expenses.

A Beneficiary refers to any individual who has received ComCare Short-to-Medium-Term Assistance (SMTA), Long-Term Assistance (LTA), and/or Student Care Fee Assistance (SCFA) in a given year.

The three major types of ComCare assistance are:

• SMTA — Supports households with temporary financial assistance to meet their basic living expenses.
• LTA — Supports those who are permanently unable to work and have little or no family support.
• SCFA — Provides student care fee assistance for children from lower-income families.

Beneficiaries may be recipients of SMTA and SCFA simultaneously or LTA and SCFA simultaneously, but not SMTA and LTA simultaneously.

ComLink+

ComLink+ supports families with children under the age of 21 that are either: (i) living in public rental housing or (ii) not living in public rental housing but are eligible for KidSTART or have school-going children at-risk of long-term absenteeism.

A total of 10, 219 families agreed to come onboard as ComLink+ families and work with MSF as of December 2024, an increase from 9,153 in December 2023.

ComLink+ support comprises family coaches and Family Service Centre (FSC) case workers, who will coach, motivate, and journey with families over the longer term to achieve their goals.

It also comprises ComLink+ Progress Packages, which provide financial top-ups to recognise and supplement families’ efforts when they make progress in key areas of preschool enrolment and attendance, employment, debt clearance and home ownership.

Attendance

In response to Mothership's queries, MSF explained that preschool enrolment is defined as children being enrolled in preschool as of November each year, while regular attendance refers to achieving an average monthly attendance rate of 75 per cent or higher.

MSF added that common barriers to regular attendance include illnesses or health issues which prevent children from attending preschool, competing parental priorities, and parent-child routines, such as separation anxiety or difficulty waking up in the morning.

In addition, parents may also face challenges balancing irregular work hours, caregiving responsibilities, and sending their children to preschool.

MSF said that since August 2024, families with children attending preschool regularly have also received additional financial top-ups through the ComLink+ Progress Package for Preschool to incentivise sustained attendance.

According to the report, as of December 2024, 21 per cent of ComLink+ families with preschool-aged Singapore Citizen (SC) children achieved self-reliance, which is defined as having all preschool-aged SC children in the family:

• Enrolled in preschool
• Completing all mandatory vaccinations under MOH’s National Childhood Immunisation Schedule (NCIS)
• Attending preschool regularly

This is an increase from 13 per cent in 2023.

According to MSF, in 2024, 87 per cent of three to four-year-old children on ComLink+ were enrolled in preschool, compared to 93 per cent for five to six-year-olds.

MSF added that local research indicates that children who attend preschool from age three are less likely to require additional learning support in primary school.

MSF said that to address the misconception that children are too young to attend preschool, family coaches actively engage parents and provide top-ups to Child Development Accounts for children enrolled in preschool at age three.

Returning households

Having young children in the family was one of the characteristics of households that returned for SMTA within 36 months.

These households tended to have primary clients with lower educational qualifications, young children, or primary clients who were medically unfit for work.

The proportion of households that returned within 36 months of exit fell from 61 per cent for the 2018 exit cohort to 49 per cent for the 2021 exit cohort.

The report noted that compared to households that did not return for SMTA within 36 months, a larger proportion of households that returned for SMTA had primary clients with secondary education and below (75 per cent vs 69 per cent), at least one zero to six-year-old child (20 per cent vs 13 per cent), or primary clients who were medically unfit for work (14 per cent vs 10 per cent) based on the 2021 exit cohort.

Households assisted, amount disbursed

The report also stated that the number of unique households assisted through SMTA continued to decrease, from 34,858 in 2020 to 20,825 in 2024.

In addition, the total amount disbursed under SMTA also declined from about S$170 million in 2020 to around S$94 million in 2024.

LTA, SCFA

According to the report, the number of unique households assisted through LTA decreased from 4,067 in 2020 to 3,240 in 2024 .

The total amount disbursed under LTA decreased from around S$29 million in 2020 to S$21.4 million in 2024.

The number of unique households assisted with SCFA increased from 7,286 in 2020 to 8,209 in 2021, after the income eligibility criteria was enhanced in 2020.

In subsequent years, the number of unique households assisted with SCFA fell to 6,596 in 2024.

Key trends

Among other key trends are the median monthly amount of SMTA cash assistance disbursed per beneficiary in assisted households, increasing from S$349 in 2020 to S$380 in 2024.

In addition, in 2024, the average per capita monthly household employment income for households in the first and second deciles increased by 3.2 per cent and 1.3 per cent, respectively, in real terms.

These increases were higher than that of the median household (0.8 per cent).

Importance of employment

MSF highlighted the importance of employment in helping families achieve stability, noting that the time taken for families to find stable employment differs based on families' specific characteristics and needs.

For example, single-parent families and/or families with young children often face greater difficulties in sustaining stable employment.

"While the Government creates opportunities and provides additional support for lower-income families, these families often have unique needs that are not easy to address, even with nationwide programmes.

"The community has been crucial in lending their time, talent, and treasures to meet these families’ needs in more targeted ways, reflecting what a "We-First" society embodies."

Top photo via Canva