More financial help from 2027 for caregivers of those with intellectual disabilities or autism

SINGAPORE – Caregivers of those with intellectual disabilities or autism can expect more financial support from 2027, following the broadening of eligibility criteria for certain schemes.

The support includes a lower migrant domestic worker levy of $60, down from the usual $300, and the Home Caregiving Grant (HCG), which provides up to $600 a month to defray caregiving costs.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung announced the changes at the Home Nursing Foundation’s 50th anniversary caregiving conference on Sept 4, alongside several other boosts to caregiver support coming in 2027.

Currently, the HCG is available only when care recipients need help with at least three activities of daily living (ADLs), such as feeding, dressing and toileting, as assessed by a professional.

However, there is a group of people with intellectual disabilities or autism with significant care needs who may not qualify for HCG, said Ong.

They may be able to perform ADLs, but still have significant care needs that are not adequately reflected in an ADL assessment. The broadened eligibility criteria would include the care needs of this group.

The change will apply to four financial support schemes: the HCG; the Migrant Domestic Worker Levy Concession for Persons with Disabilities; the Caregivers Training Grant; and the Pioneer Generation Disability Assistance Scheme.

Ong added that the Ministry of Social and Family Development would share more details on the changes.

Financial assistance and subsidies were the top services that caregivers of people with disabilities require but have not been able to access, according to the National Council of Social Service’s Disability and Inclusion Panel Study in 2023. This was mainly due to complicated application processes or ineligibility for the services, according to the study.

Other initiatives announced by Ong at the conference include eight new community touchpoints.

These Caregiver Support Touchpoints (CST) will be set up at five aged care service providers in Bedok, Bukit Panjang, Tiong Bahru-Redhill, Toa Payoh and Yishun, as well as three Enabling Services Hubs – community facilities offering support for people with disabilities – in Jurong, Punggol and Tampines.

Said Ong: “Whether their loved one is a senior, a person with a disability, has dementia, is facing mental health challenges or has a serious illness, caregivers can approach any CST and simply ask: ‘I am a caregiver. What should I do?’”

CST staff can help identify their needs, explain available support and connect them to services for themselves and their loved ones.

A common caregiver training framework is also in the works. It organises information on training around caregivers’ needs at each stage of their journey, so they do not need to search multiple sources to find useful training, said Ong.

Caregivers recognised as beneficiaries 

The moves come as caregivers in Singapore, once overshadowed by the needs of care recipients, are increasingly seen as a group to be supported in their own right.

Ong described them as quietly toiling away in the background, playing a vital but often unnoticed role, and noted their physical and emotional burdens.

“Caregivers deserve our support, and the Government can do so in some practical ways.”

Edward Chan, 51, a father of two teenage girls with autism, hopes they will qualify for financial support under the expanded criteria.

People with autism can face challenges such as travelling and living independently, even though they may be able to complete ADLs, he said. 

“The current ADLs (are) not sufficient to cover what we really need as caregivers for people with intellectual disabilities and autism,” said Chan, who heads programmes and services at CaringSG, a charity supporting caregivers of children with special needs.

For example, his younger daughter, who is 15, lacks awareness of danger and experiences sensory meltdowns.

The family needed to hire a migrant domestic worker to guide his daughter when travelling.

A lower levy would ease their financial burden, he added.

Some caregivers like Adrian Tan, co-founder and deputy chief executive of SG Assist, want the eligibility criteria to go beyond ADLs to instrumental ADLs, which refer to tasks such as managing finances and home maintenance.

This is because cognitive abilities may fade before physical abilities are disrupted, said Tan, adding that such a criterion would cover seniors with dementia or those at the onset of illness.

He welcomed the new caregiver support touchpoints and said they help caregivers see themselves “as a beneficiary group rather than a subgroup of their loved ones”.

New marketplace to swop, sell and donate caregiving items

About 500 guests gathered at the conference, which was held at Gardens by the Bay’s Flower Dome, to discuss how Singapore can better support caregivers amid increasingly diverse and complex care needs.

A website known as Carers Hub, aimed at helping caregivers navigate information and services, was also launched at the conference.

One of its features is a caregiver marketplace where users can exchange caregiving-related items, such as equipment and adaptive clothing.

They may list items for sale or offer them as donations, while organisations can list their products and services.

Caregivers can also monitor their own mental well-being on the website through daily mood check-ins and self-assessment tools. They may choose to share their assessment results with a participating agency and request follow-up.

To mark the launch, the Home Nursing Foundation signed an agreement with seven partners – Caregiving Welfare Association, Lions Befrienders, Methodist Welfare Services, Montfort Care, SG Assist, TOUCH Community Services and MoneyOwl – to exchange expertise and resources.

Christina Tiong, CEO of the Home Nursing Foundation, said the foundation developed the centralised online resource after noticing that caregiving resources were scattered and caregivers were too busy to visit their centres for help.

The marketplace function was included after the foundation received multiple client requests to donate caregiving equipment after their loved ones died, said Tiong, adding that these items could be put to good use instead of being discarded.

Caregivers can also discuss practical concerns on the website’s forums. Tiong hopes such a ground-up community can ease caregiver isolation.

“They can learn a lot, and they can feel a sense of well-being, just because they feel they are not alone,” she said.