This year's Budgets provide direct support for families, with more for the lower income, to support a resilient society, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said yesterday.
He said he shared a concern raised by Ms Foo Mee Har (West Coast GRC) that some Singaporean families may have non-citizen members who support the family but currently do not benefit from cash payouts in the Care and Support Package. "They... are supporting the family in different ways through this difficult period," he said.
To support these families, adult permanent residents with Singaporean parents, spouses or children will be able to apply for a one-off Solidarity Payment of $300.
Long-Term Visit Pass-Plus holders, who are foreign spouses of Singaporeans, can do so as well.
More details on the application process will be provided later.
Nominated MP Walter Theseira, Dr Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang GRC), Ms Foo, Mr Louis Ng (Nee Soon GRC) and Workers' Party MP Faisal Manap (Aljunied GRC) had also asked about giving more cash to tide over different groups of Singaporeans and their families.
Mr Heng said the Government will already provide more than what they proposed. He cited how a 50-year-old couple with a child aged 20 years old and below will receive up to $3,200 in cash. This is from the Solidarity Payment, Care and Support Package, and $100 PAssion card top-up in cash.
Low-wage workers on Workfare will also receive an additional $3,000 in cash to help them with their expenses, he added, while those who are unemployed can receive $2,400 from the Covid-19 Support Grant over three months, among other things.
In the interim, those needing urgent help with basic living expenses can apply for cash assistance of $500 under the Temporary Relief Fund.
The Ministry of Social and Family Development and the HDB are also exercising greater flexibility under ComCare and for mortgage repayments respectively, he said.
In addition, under the Jobs Support Scheme, employers get up to $31,000 in wage offsets over nine months, for each local worker retained. Eligible self-employed persons will get $9,000 over the same period under the Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme.
"With this set of schemes, we balance between targeting our support for those who need it more, and flowing support quickly to large groups. It is not an easy balance, and we will do our best to calibrate this," said Mr Heng.
Singapore's ability to put together a support package for Singaporeans amounting to 12 per cent of gross domestic product without borrowing against the country's future is "testament to the optimal fiscal balance we have sought to maintain over the years", he added.
The Government will continue to work hard at this and continue to look at improvements, he said.
For instance, it will study whether self-employed persons should be more systematically included in Singapore's social security system, as suggested by Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar (Ang Mo Kio GRC).
But the Government cannot do this alone, said Mr Heng, who noted that many Singaporeans are stepping up to help others in the spirit of Singapore Together, including distributing hand sanitisers, masks and meals to those who need it more.
"These are spontaneous acts of community support, and I hope they inspire more to do the same. This is the social cohesion and resilience that we must have."
