Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and economic recession, more families will be in need of financial assistance.

How can we improve the processes to ensure that financial assistance schemes are more accessible to and inclusive of those who have fallen on hard times?

From my own experience as part of a community effort assisting low-income families with their applications for financial aid, I have observed how tedious and complicated the processes can be. It is especially trying for those who are less literate or technologically savvy.

The Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme (Sirs) application process, for instance, poses numerous challenges for applicants.

Low-income, odd-job workers tend to work in informal sectors that pay them in cash and rarely provide income documentation.

They also face issues navigating government websites such as SingPass, and are unable to understand the types of documentation they have to present.

This makes it difficult for them to prove their income loss. Thus, many give up midway through an application or find the process too complicated and intimidating to even try, even though they have experienced significant income loss.

Some have also expressed feelings of helplessness and disempowerment.

I hope Sirs can be made more accessible. Its eligibility criteria should be made more inclusive of self-employed persons working in informal sectors, and its application process simplified.

Hotlines dedicated to providing applicants with step-by-step guidance for their Sirs applications could also be set up to ensure that immediate assistance is available for those who need it.

The reduction of red tape in application processes should be applied to all assistance schemes. This way, we can better ensure that those who need assistance are able to access what they are entitled to, without being subjected to unnecessarily high levels of screening.

Nurin Nazurah Saifudin