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Manage work and family with greater ease
Follow the story of new parents Luqman and Dahlia, as they navigate work and family life:
Stronger work-life support for parents
More Parental Leave
Enjoy more time with your newborn with up to 30 weeks of paid leave.
Government-Paid Maternity Leave: 16 weeks
Enhanced Government-Paid Paternity Leave (GPPL): 4 weeks, from 1 April 2025
Currently, fathers enjoy 2 weeks of mandatory GPPL, and employers may voluntarily grant an additional 2 weeks
The two weeks of voluntary GPPL will be made mandatory from 1 April 2025
New Shared Parental Leave (SPL) scheme:
6 weeks of SPL shared between both parents, from 1 April 2025
10 weeks of SPL shared between both parents, from 1 April 2026
Find out more about parental leave.
Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs)
Discuss Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA) with your employer to balance your work and parenting responsibilities.
There are different FWAs that can suit both your needs and the needs of your organisation:
Flexi-place: Work from a different location outside of your office (e.g. work-from-home).
Flexi-time: Have different office hours with no change to total work hours and workload (e.g. flexi-hours, staggered hours, compressed work schedule).
Flexi-load: Take on a different workload and be paid accordingly (e.g. job sharing, part-time work).
The Tripartite Guidelines on FWA Requests (TG-FWAR) sets out:
How employees should request for FWAs and use them responsibly, and
How employers and supervisors should handle FWA requests based on business needs
The TG-FWAR will take effect on 1 December 2024.
Explore Flexible Work Arrangements.
More childcare options
Infant Childminding Services
Consider new infant childminding services for children from two to 18 months old. Under this pilot, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) will appoint childminding operators, who will engage childminders. These individuals can care for up to three infants at a time, either at their homes or community spaces such as community centres/clubs.
This services aim to be:
Affordable: Parents can expect to pay around $700 a month, and can tap on the Child Development Account to offset fees.
Flexible: Parents can engage childminders on a half-day or full-day basis, and for selected days a week. With up to three infants under their charge, childminders can provide dedicated care to infants and accommodate parents’ caregiving preferences.
Safe: ECDA will conduct background checks on potential childminders before engaging them. Appointed operators must meet service requirements to ensure child safety, and childminders will have to undergo relevant training. ECDA and operators are also working on industry standards to lay out best practices for the safety and well-being of infants.
This three-year pilot aims to eventually cater to 700 infants each year. The pilot will be launched in December 2024, with more details to be announced.
Learn more about Infant Childminding Services.
Increased Access to More Affordable Preschools
Lower Fees: Maximum fees for full-day childcare reduced to $640 for anchor operator preschools (AOP), and $680 for partner operator preschools (before subsidies)
More Spaces: Almost 40,000 new spaces at government-supported preschools to be added from 2025 to 2029, catering to 80% of preschoolers.
Financial support for child-raising
Baby Bonus Scheme
Get more financial support as you start and raise your family.
Baby Bonus Cash Gift
Receive a cash gift of $11,000 for your first and second child, and $13,000 for any subsequent children, with regular payouts every six months until your child is six-and-a-half years old. The cash gift is deposited into the Child Savings Account (CSA), a joint savings account that is opened automatically with the Child Development Account (CDA) when your child is enrolled for the Baby Bonus Scheme. You can use the cash gift to help offset child-raising costs.
Child Development Account First Step Grant
A CDA First Step Grant of $5,000 is given to Singaporean children. It will be automatically deposited when you open a CDA for your child, without requiring you to save into the CDA first.
Savings in the CDA can be used for your child’s expenses, covering:
Fees for registered childcare centres, kindergartens, special education schools and early intervention programmes
Medical expenses at healthcare institutions such as hospitals and General Practitioner clinics
Premiums for MediShield Life or MediSave-approved private integrated plans
Assistive technology devices
Eye-related products and services at optical shops
Approved healthcare items at pharmacies
Government co-matching of parents’ savings in the CDA
Enjoy dollar-for-dollar matching from the Government when you save into your child’s CDA, up to the Government co-matching cap.
Summary of Baby Bonus Scheme Benefits
Table 1: Overview of Baby Bonus Scheme
Birth Order | Baby Bonus Cash Gift | Child Development Account (CDA) | |
|---|---|---|---|
First Step Grant | Maximum Government Co-Matching | ||
1st Child | $11,000 | $5,000 | $4,000 |
2nd Child | $7,000 | ||
3rd Child | $13,000 | $9,000 | |
4th Child | $9,000 | ||
5th & Subsequent Child | $15,000 | ||
Find out more about the Baby Bonus Scheme.
Uplifting families in need
ComLink+
Lower-income families with children can benefit from ComLink+ support. ComLink+ family coaches work with families to co-develop action plans, as they coach and motivate them towards achieving their goals, and help them navigate social support services. Families can also benefit from ComLink+ Progress Packages in the areas of preschool education, employment, debt clearance and home ownership.
ComLink+ will progressively be expanded to support other families that do not live in public rental flats, but have school-going children who are at risk of long-term absenteeism or are eligible for KidSTART.