Low-income families with young children to get up to $30,000 in total payouts under ComLink scheme
By Theresa Tan, Senior Social Affairs Correspondent, The Straits Times, 20 Nov 2023
Low-income families will be given financial incentives and other support if they work towards improving their lives, in a national push to give them a leg-up.
Families with children living in highly subsidised Housing Board rental flats who qualify can get up to $30,000 in total payouts if they meet certain employment criteria and make voluntary Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions to save up to buy their own homes.
Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli announced details of the new ComLink+ scheme on Nov 20. It consists of four support packages in areas like pre-school education, employment and home ownership.
About 14,000 families on the Community Link (ComLink) scheme are eligible for these new areas of support, which will be rolled out from the second half of 2024.
The measures are aimed at motivating families to send their children to pre-school by the age of three, find a stable job that pays CPF, and save up to buy their own homes. For example, beneficiaries can get between $450 and $550 every three months in a mix of cash and CPF payouts if they find a CPF-paying job with a salary of at least $1,400 a month.
One package helps families to clear their debt, such as for utility and housing arrears. This debt clearance package will match dollar for dollar up to $2,500 in sums repaid by the family, so the total debt cleared would be up to $5,000.
ComLink+ is a key plank of the national drive to reduce income inequality and boost social mobility under the Forward Singapore report, which was launched on Oct 27.
Speaking at the Year of Celebrating Social Service Partners appreciation event on Nov 20, Mr Masagos said: “We want Singapore to continue to be a place where social mobility is kept alive for all, especially low-income families who may face unique challenges.
“Many Singaporeans share this vision and agree that more support for low-income families is needed. At the same time, they think this needs to be done in a manner that does not erode self-reliance and agency.”
Mr Masagos described the ComLink+ scheme as a key shift beyond providing just basic, short-term social assistance. The additional financial support will help ease the financial pressures on the families and help them achieve their longer-term goals faster, he added.
“It may take a generation or more, but we know that by reinforcing families’ ability to provide their children with a good start in life today, we give them a better chance of a brighter tomorrow.”
The latest scheme builds on the existing ComLink programme that started in 2019, where low-income families with children living in HDB rental flats are given coordinated and comprehensive support ranging from job assistance to children’s development.
The ComLink+ support measures will be trialled for three years to assess their effectiveness before any potential scale-up, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) said.
Areas of support under four packages
1. Pre-school education
Each child enrolled in pre-school will get a one-time $500 top-up to the Child Development Account (CDA), which is a special savings account for the child that can be used to pay pre-school and healthcare fees, when they turn three.
Those between the ages of three and six will get a $200 top-up to their CDA every three months if they attend pre-school regularly. Regular attendance is defined as when the child is in pre-school at least 75 per cent of the time.
Local research has shown that children who attend pre-school from the age of three are less likely to require additional learning support in primary school.
However, the pre-school enrolment and attendance rate of children from lower-income families are lower than the national average, especially at the age of three and four. For example, 88 per cent of children aged three to four nationwide were enrolled in pre-school, compared with 78 per cent for those in lower-income families in 2021, the MSF told The Straits Times.
This package is funded by a corporate donor.
2. Stable employment
Beneficiaries will be given financial incentives if they find a job that pays CPF contributions with a gross salary of at least $1,400 a month. Each adult with a job that meets these criteria will get financial top-ups of between $450 and $550 in a combination of cash and CPF payouts for every quarter that he or she is employed.
If two adults in the same household qualify, they will each get an extra $50 every three months. A maximum of two adults per family can benefit from this employment package geared towards encouraging families to find a stable job.
3. Debt clearance
To help families clear their debt, this package will match dollar for dollar, up to $2,500, the amount the family repays for what the MSF calls verifiable debt. This refers to debt owed to licensed companies, such as utilities and housing arrears, that can be verified and for which repayments can be tracked. Debts to unlicensed moneylenders and sums owed to family and friends are not covered.
Families can benefit from this debt clearance package only once. To qualify, they must not be receiving financial aid from the Government’s ComCare scheme.
An MSF spokesman said: “With less disposable income and savings, lower-income families are more susceptible to falling into debt or arrears, especially if they encounter unexpected setbacks or have inherited debt.
“Even a relatively small debt can severely impact lower-income families financially, psychologically and emotionally, affecting their ability to resolve their debts and work towards long-term goals.”
This package is funded entirely by donors, including Singapore Pools.
4. Saving for home ownership
To help families save up to buy their own flats, for every dollar that the family voluntarily contributes to the CPF Ordinary Account, the Government will top up $2. A family can receive only up to $30,000 in total payouts across this package and the employment package. This package is funded by the Government and DBS Bank, an anchor partner for ComLink+.
Mr Masagos said over 170 partners, which includes DBS, OCBC, UOL’s Pan Pacific Hotels Group, are providing support to ComLink families in various ways.
The financial top-ups will be given for as long as the family remains eligible for the particular package or until the family reaches the payout limit specified for each package, whichever is earlier.
These four areas of support in the packages were designed based on the key needs and aspirations families on ComLink had shared, the MSF said.
Mr Masagos said ComLink officers will be trained to act as family coaches to motivate and support families in working towards their goals.
He said: “When families feel understood and supported, they are more likely to actively participate in the decision-making process and take steps towards their goals. With support from family coaches to meet their immediate needs and stabilise their situations, families tell us they feel more optimistic about their future.”
Mr Christian Chao, chief executive of Care Corner Singapore, a social service agency, said many low-income families take up jobs in the gig economy, such as delivery drivers, as it gives them flexibility and pays them immediately. This is unlike full-time jobs, which pay once a month.
“Beneficiaries often don’t have savings, so being paid immediately helps them to bring money home to the family. They are not able to think about the benefits of long-term employment when they are thinking about money for the next meal.”
He said the financial top-ups given for every quarter of employment would offer a stronger incentive for these families to find a job that pays CPF. However, it may not benefit those who need the flexibility offered by gig jobs due to caregiving and other responsibilities at home, he added.
Additional reporting by Syarafana Shafeeq
Family of 5 hopes to one day move out of rental flat and buy own home
By Syarafana Shafeeq, The Straits Times, 20 Nov 2023
Mr Kuah Chee Hian, 59, has lived in a rental flat in Jalan Kayu with his wife and three daughters, aged between four and six, for the past four years.
His family is one of many that may benefit from new support schemes, featuring financial incentives across four areas – employment, pre-school education, buying their own homes and clearing debt – unveiled on Nov 20.
Announced by Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli, the schemes aim to give lower-income families with children living in HDB rental flats a boost to improve their lives.
Mr Kuah’s wife, Madam Purnawati, 37, said their current two-room flat is not enough for their family of five.
“I want to give my kids a better living environment to grow up in. Right now, our rental flat is too small for all of us,” she said.
Under the new support packages announced by the Ministry of Social and Family Development, families under the Community Link (ComLink) programme will get a boost to their Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings if they make voluntary contributions.
For every $1 of voluntary top-up to the CPF made by the family, a $2 top-up will be made via the new ComLink+ package, up to a limit.
This will help families to save up more quickly for their flat purchase and give them a better chance of fulfilling this aspiration, the ministry said on Nov 20.
Madam Purnawati, a permanent resident who came to Singapore 10 years ago from Indonesia, is currently not working. She hopes to find a stable job in a canteen or restaurant once she secures student care for her daughters, who are in pre-school.
This will help bring them closer to their goal of buying an HDB flat, she said.
Currently, Mr Kuah, who earns about $1,430 each month as an enforcement officer with Certis Cisco, is the sole breadwinner.
Madam Purnawati said: “I want to find a job (to) help my family, so that we can be stable. Once I start getting CPF contributions, it will be easier for us to have our own home instead of renting.”
If she manages to do so, she may benefit from support from another support package under ComLink+.
Adults in ComLink families that secure and stay in CPF-paying jobs that pay at least $1,400 monthly will receive financial top-ups of between $450 and $550 in cash and CPF payouts.
The top-ups apply for every quarter of sustained employment, up to a limit. Higher top-ups will be given when two adults in the household work.
Madam Purnawati said: “Our financial situation is quite heavy now since only my husband works, and he is still settling some housing debt from his previous marriage. Raising three young kids is also not cheap.”
Even a relatively small debt can severely impact lower-income families financially, psychologically and emotionally, affecting their ability to resolve their debts and work towards long-term goals, said the ministry.
A package under ComLink+, which is fully donor-funded, will match families’ repayments to their creditors on a one-to-one basis, for repayment of debts of up to $5,000.
Families can benefit from this repayment only once, and must not be receiving any ComCare assistance.
Madam Purnawati said: “My hope for the future is that I can give my kids a better life, and we can live in a home we can call our own.”
Giving low-income families and their kids a fighting chance to escape the poverty trap
By Theresa Tan, Senior Social Affairs Correspondent, The Straits Times, 23 Nov 2023
Imagine this: You are a divorcee with two or three children working in a job that pays a thousand plus dollars a month, and all you have in the bank are a few hundred dollars. Chances are you will be in survival mode.
Topmost on your mind will be putting food on the table, paying the bills and just getting by.
Goals such as owning a flat and finding a job with better prospects – which are norms for middle-class families – may not even cross the minds of people in such situations, said Ms Kelly Low, head of Care Corner Family Service Centre (Tampines).
These goals may also seem out of reach for many low-income families with multiple complex problems, such as illness, unemployment, marital woes, strained family ties and incarceration, say social workers who work with families on the Community Link (ComLink) scheme.
ComLink was started in 2019 to give low-income families with children living in highly subsidised Housing Board rental flats coordinated and comprehensive support ranging from job assistance to children’s development.
On Nov 20, the new ComLink+ scheme, a key plank of the national push to boost social mobility under the Forward Singapore exercise, was unveiled.
The Government is giving financial incentives and other support to ComLink families if they take steps to improve their lives. The support comes in four areas aimed at motivating families to send their children to pre-school by the age of three, get a stable job that pays Central Provident Fund (CPF), and save up to buy their own homes.
For example, each child enrolled in pre-school will get a one-time $500 top-up to the Child Development Account (CDA) when he or she turns three.
And those between the ages of three and six will get a $200 top-up to their CDA every three months if they attend pre-school regularly. The CDA is a special savings account for children that can be used to pay pre-school and healthcare fees.
This is to encourage more low-income families to send their children to pre-school by the age of three, to reduce the risk of their development lagging behind that of their peers when they enter Primary 1. And to help families save up to buy their own flats, for every dollar that the family voluntarily contributes to the CPF Ordinary Account, the Government will top up $2.
In other words, the ComLink+ scheme aims to give these families and their children a fighting chance to escape the poverty trap.
Key push to boost social mobility
With early signs that social stratification is becoming more entrenched, the Government wants to ensure that no family here gets trapped in a permanent underclass, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said when he first sketched the broad outlines of ComLink+ in October.
Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli described the ComLink+ scheme as a key shift beyond providing just basic, short-term social assistance to low-income families.
The additional financial support will help ease these families’ financial pressures and help them achieve their longer-term goals faster, he said.
He said on Nov 20: “Rather than quick fixes, we want to enable families to build resilience and secure sustained stability and self-reliance, and ultimately social mobility.
“It may take a generation or more, but we know that by reinforcing families’ ability to provide their children with a good start in life today, we give them a better chance of a brighter tomorrow.”
About 14,000 families on the ComLink scheme are eligible for ComLink+, which will be rolled out from the second half of 2024.
When asked about the average income of families on the ComLink scheme, a spokesman for the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) said the families have to meet all public rental housing criteria. Aside from household income, which was not stated, other factors will also be taken into consideration. These include the families’ circumstances, household size, family support and their ability to afford other housing options.
Social workers say most of the families they work with on the ComLink scheme have a household income of less than $2,000 a month. They are among the poorest families in Singapore.
Family coaches play critical role
Social workers say many low-income families take up jobs in the gig economy such as delivery drivers, instead of full-time jobs, as these give them the flexibility they need for various reasons, such as caregiving. And they get paid immediately, instead of monthly.
Mr Francis Foo, group director of family services at Methodist Welfare Services, said: “Many low-income families live from hand to mouth, making immediate cash of paramount importance to them.”
Under ComLink+, beneficiaries can get between $450 and $550 every three months in a mix of cash and CPF payouts if they find a CPF-paying job with a salary of at least $1,400 a month.
This is where the scheme’s family coaches come in, with social workers noting that such coaches will play a critical role in ensuring the new scheme’s effectiveness.
Ms Low said: “Without these family coaches to spark change, many of these families would be stuck in their day-to-day survival mode. They would find it hard to work towards their goals.”
“If the coach’s stance is one of supporting the families through challenges, that stance alleviates anxiety and spurs hope, thus enabling the families to progress step by step,” added Associate Professor Irene Ng, of the Social Work department at the National University of Singapore (NUS). “If the coach’s stance is one of monitoring compliance to conditions (of the scheme), that adds mental burdens and anxiety, which can discourage progress instead.”
Relieving the debt burden
One unique component of the ComLink+ scheme is the debt clearance package. This package helps to clear sums owed to licensed companies, such as utilities and housing arrears, which can be verified and for which repayments can be tracked.
This package will match dollar for dollar, up to $2,500, the amount the family repays. Families can benefit from this scheme only once, and it does not cover debts to family, friends or loan sharks.
At least two other social service agencies have similar debt clearance programmes.
For example, the MWS runs a programme that matches every dollar of debt repaid by a beneficiary with $2 and this is capped at a certain sum.
Social workers interviewed say some low-income families do not earn enough to make ends meet, and thus accumulate debt in housing, utilities and other bills. Their situation becomes more dire if they experience an illness or other crises.
Such chronic debt creates severe anxiety and affects a person’s ability to think clearly and make good decisions, as one local study, done by Dr Ong Qiyan, Associate Professor Irene Ng and Associate Professor Walter Theseira, has found.
Prof Theseira, an associate professor of economics at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, said helping these families clear their debt gives them a clearer frame of mind, which enables them to better work towards achieving their long-term goals. But the scheme must also help these families take steps to boost their longer-term earnings, he said, or they may end up in debt again.
No free lunch in Singapore
While the new ComLink+ scheme is a major shift in the Government’s approach to giving low-income families a leg-up, Singapore is not turning into a welfare state, said the academics interviewed.
Dr Mathew Mathews, a principal research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, pointed out that ComLink+ still emphasises a set of conditions, where beneficiaries are rewarded for certain positive decisions that they make.
This is unlike some welfare models overseas, which provide payments as long as beneficiaries meet certain requirements. The criteria include earning less than a certain income, having a disability or being a caregiver, he said.
Ms Low said: “There is no free lunch in Singapore. The aid given is tied to goals and conditions. The focus is still on taking steps to help oneself.”
And many financial incentives under the ComLink+ scheme are in the form of top-ups to CPF and CDA, instead of cash handouts, noted the academics and social workers.
The ComLink+ support measures will be trialled for three years to assess their effectiveness before any potential scale-up, the MSF said.
And if it takes off, it is my hope that more families beyond those under the ComLink scheme can benefit from it. For there are other low-income families with children, not living in HDB rental flats, who are also facing multiple woes.
Related
No comments:
Post a Comment