Automated make-up pay for NSmen; base NS pay set at $1,600

Fewer operationally ready national servicemen (NSmen) will need to submit claims for lost income during military activities, with make-up pay to be automated and a new base NS pay set at $1,600 a month, claimable by all regardless of rank and vocation.

Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said in Parliament yesterday that the new initiative will tackle "a longstanding issue" for NSmen, who in the past had to submit documents to prove their fixed and variable monthly incomes for compensation.

Over 100,000 NSmen and 25,000 employers, which sometimes claim on their employees' behalf, are set to benefit, added Dr Ng, who did not say when it would take effect. "This will be especially useful for those in informal employment and training. The base NS pay is set at $1,600 a month and pro-rated for the duration of NS call-ups."

Senior Minister of State for Defence Heng Chee How will give more details during today's parliamentary session.

The improvements are part of several initiatives by the NS review committee set up in 2020, chaired by the deputy secretary of the Ministry of Defence's (Mindef) administration and the Chief of Army, to review aspects of NS.

Dr Ng said the committee has also decided that full-time national service enlistees should undergo what he called "functional assessments" as part of their pre-enlistment routine medical screening, which will more precisely gauge what vocation the individual is capable of performing.

He did not say what the assessments are or what vocations would be involved, but Mr Heng had previously said this is part of Mindef steering away from a binary medical classification of combat-fit soldiers versus non-combat-fit enlistees, as technologies change and Singapore aims to do more with fewer recruits due to falling birth rates.

The Singapore Armed Forces has been trialling functional assessments so that those initially deemed ineligible can still be trained as transport operators.

Dr Ng said Mindef has redesigned 1,000 jobs in tandem so that more servicemen can contribute in areas they were not previously eligible for.