NTUC to commit $5.4 million to help lower-income members who are caregivers

SINGAPORE – NTUC will commit a total of $5.4 million over the next three years to support lower-income union members with caregiving responsibilities at home.

The amount will be dispensed from 2025 to 2027 from the NTUC-U Care Fund through two new programmes, with $1.8 million set aside for 2025.

The new schemes are efforts to better meet the needs of union members with caregiving responsibilities, according to NTUC, which added that more details “will be shared in due course”.

Balancing responsibilities at home and at the workplace was found to be one of workers’ top concerns, based on NTUC’s public engagement exercise in 2023 that involved over 42,000 workers across various life stages.

“They often find themselves in a double bind – caring for their loved ones while balancing the demands of their jobs. We hope these programmes will lighten their load and enable them to better fulfil their caregiving duties,” said NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng.

In 2024, the NTUC-U Care Fund raised $7.2 million in donations, which supported the fund’s assistance programmes. This year, the programmes benefited over 10,000 lower-income union members and their families.

Mr Desmond Tan, a beneficiary of the NTUC Care Fund (Education Awards), said that the programme helped ease the financial burden of education costs for his three children, including one with special needs.

The education bursary is for lower-income union members’ school-going children up to the tertiary level. In October, NTUC announced it has set aside $700,000 for this programme.

“With these new programmes, I hope that more families will receive help to manage some costs of caregiving, such as medical expenses,” added Mr Tan.

Looking ahead, NTUC said it will strengthen its fund-raising efforts for the U Care Fund to widen its donor pool and explore new avenues to garner public support.