NDR 2024: Parental leave enhancements add to recent slew of family-friendly measures

Married couples with Singaporean babies born on or after Feb 14, 2023, get $3,000 more in the form of the Baby Bonus cash gift. This means eligible first- and second-born children now receive $11,000, up from $8,000. For the third child onwards, this is raised from $10,000 to $13,000. 

The Child Development Account (CDA) First Step Grant, which parents can use to directly offset pre-school and healthcare expenses, grew from $3,000 to $5,000 for all children born from Feb 14, 2023.

The co-matching cap for the CDA is raised by $1,000 for couples’ first and second children. With the change, savings deposited by parents into the account are now matched dollar for dollar by the Government up to a cap of $4,000 and $7,000 for first- and second-born children, respectively. 

From Jan 1, 2024, government-paid paternity leave

doubled from two to four weeks on a voluntary basis,

(NEW) Two out of the four weeks of a father’s paternity leave entitlement will no longer be voluntary. From April 1, 2025, these additional two weeks of government-paid paternity leave will be made mandatory. This means employers cannot turn down such leave requests without reasonable cause as long as fathers meet certain conditions, such as being employed for a continuous period of at least three months before their child’s birth.

(NEW) Parental leave will be upgraded from 20 weeks of paid leave to 30 weeks between a couple in two phases from April 1, 2025. The 10 extra weeks come from an overhaul of the shared parental leave scheme such that it no longer draws from the 16 weeks of maternity leave allotted for mothers.

Tripartite guidelines on flexible work arrangement requests were launched in April 2024, and will take effect from December 2024.

The new priority category for first-timer families with Singaporean children aged 18 and below, as well as married couples aged 40 and below, took effect from the August 2023 Build-To-Order (BTO) exercise. This group gets one additional ballot chance when they apply for a new Housing Board flat, on top of the two ballot chances they already get as first-timer families.

Since August 2022, at least 85 per cent of three-room BTO flats in non-mature estates, 95 per cent of four-room and larger BTO flats in non-mature estates, and 95 per cent of three-room and larger BTO flats in mature estates, have been set aside for first-timer families.

HDB is set to launch about 19,600 BTO flats in 2024, on the back of 2023’s total flat launch of 24,447 flats. With this, it is still on track to offer 100,000 flats from 2021 to 2025.

HDB also launched the one-year Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (Open Market) Voucher scheme from July 2024. This is to provide temporary support for young couples and families who are renting from the open market while awaiting the completion of their new flats. Eligible families will receive $300 per month on a reimbursement basis, for each complete month of tenancy that starts between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025.

The fee cap for full-day childcare will be lowered by $40 a month to $640 at the five anchor operators, and $680 at 28 partner operators, in 2025. This is to make pre-school more affordable. These fee caps will be lowered further in 2026, such that dual-income families with a child in anchor operator full-day childcare will pay around the equivalent of primary school and student care fees, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) said.

MSF also plans to increase centre-based infant care places by about 70 per cent, or 9,000 more places, by 2030, and pilot infant childminding services as an alternative option to support infant caregiving needs.

Government-supported pre-school places are being expanded as well. The aim is for 80 per cent of pre-schoolers to have a place in these pre-schools by around 2025, up from over 65 per cent today. This entails expanding the number of places provided by partner operators, anchor operators, and a small number of MOE kindergartens.

When a baby is born as a Singapore citizen, a MediSave account will automatically be created in his name upon registration of birth and a MediSave grant of $4,000 deposited. He also gets free childhood vaccinations and developmental check-ups.

From Jan 1, 2020, eligible couples undergoing assisted conception procedures at public assisted reproduction centres were able to receive up to 75 per cent in co-funding from the Government, subject to a dollar cap.

From July 2022, eligible couples undergoing preimplantation genetic testing for monogenic or single gene defects and chromosomal structural rearrangements at approved providers were able to receive up to 75 per cent in co-funding from the Government, subject to co-funding caps.