Parenthood, caregiver support, ageing well among possible social priorities in Budget 2024

BUDGET 2024 may unveil specific social programmes – to encourage parenthood, support caregivers or promote healthy ageing, for instance – in line with the Forward Singapore (Forward SG) report released last October, which painted broad strokes of seven key policy shifts.

These policy shifts are the result of an engagement exercise involving some 200,000 citizens over 16 months, in which Singaporeans said they wanted a society that is inclusive, fair and resilient.

One of these shifts is “respecting and rewarding every job”. To that end, the government has indicated that re-employment support for displaced workers and enhancement to SkillsFuture are among the job-related initiatives in Budget 2024.

The six other shifts suggest more moves that might feature in the Budget this Friday (Feb 16).

Supporting families

In the Forward SG report, the government pledged to “do more to support all families through every stage of life, be it young couples embarking on their parenthood journey, middle-aged parents caring for both children and seniors, or families that have persons with disabilities”.

At his annual Chinese New Year visit to workers, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong hinted that Budget 2024 would include parenthood-related measures. Noting earlier moves in areas such as pre-school, flexible work arrangements, baby bonuses and child-related leave, he said: “We have some ideas to do more on all these counts.”

“Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence (Wong) and his team have been working hard at it... I think I should leave him to announce good news,” he added.

The government has previously said that it is considering how to further increase paid parental leave. This is on top of paid paternity leave being extended by two more weeks on a voluntary basis, and a doubling of unpaid infant care leave from this year.

Budget 2024 could also include stronger caregiving support, for which the labour movement has been actively advocating. This might take the form of caregiver leave, flexible work or other forms of workplace support.

Walter Theseira, an economist from the Singapore University of Social Sciences, believes that general caregiving leave could become important in an ageing society such as Singapore.

He noted that it is just as important to have provisions for flexible work, part-time work and re-entering the labour force. “For many caregivers, just having more leave entitlement may not solve the issue if, for example, caregiving needs are actually continuous for the elderly or others who need care.”

He added: “That said, generalising the provisions already in place for government-paid leave for societal reasons, such as childcare, could be useful.”

Tan Poh Lin, senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, believes more can be done for older caregivers – especially elderly women who lack formal work experience and often shoulder family obligations well past retirement age, sometimes without monetary returns.

“It is important to recognise the invisible contributions of the elderly who are not just care recipients but also care providers, and to compensate them for their role in the care infrastructure in Singapore,” she said.

As for early childhood education, the government has said it will pay “special attention” to children from lower-income families, even as overall investment in pre-school education has gone up over the last two decades.

“Research also indicates that one of the greatest burdens parents face is in the area of children’s education,” added Dr Tan. “Budget 2024 may seek to further broaden access to pre-school for children from low-income families and double down on school reforms to support holistic learning.”

Uplifting the vulnerable

This is in line with another policy shift in Forward SG: empowering those in need. For lower-income families, Associate Professor Theseira expects Budget 2024 to include details of enhancements to the ComLink+ programme.

The scheme provides financial top-ups to eligible families as long as they fulfil specific requirements, including meeting employment criteria and making voluntary Central Provident Fund contributions.

Families with children who have developmental and special educational needs should also get more help with defraying out-of-pocket costs for early intervention services, special education schools and special student care centres.

Ageing well

In recent years, the government has rolled out various initiatives to improve seniors’ health and quality of life, with “enabling seniors to age well” being another focus of Forward SG.

Following the launch of Healthier SG, a national strategy focused on preventive care, the Ministry of Health last November introduced the S$800 million Age Well SG programme to keep seniors active and social.

Budget 2024 might bring details of enhancements to the Silver Support Scheme and Matched Retirement Savings Scheme, which PM Lee mentioned at last year’s National Day Rally.

And, it should shed more light on the Majulah Package, also announced at the Rally, which aims to boost retirement adequacy for lower and middle-income “younger seniors” born in 1973 or earlier.

However, supporting younger seniors should go beyond financial top-ups, said Assoc Prof Theseira. “For this group of younger seniors, who are much better educated and skilled than the Pioneer generation, it’s also important they have opportunities to take up higher-skilled and better-paid work than what we see today’s elderly doing.

“Policies that encourage higher-skilled elder employment are the key here – as the issues with age discrimination and such are largely related to professional and skilled jobs, and not so much the lower-wage sector, which is quite happy to recruit older workers due to manpower shortages.”

Beyond these known moves, Budget 2024 may include housing-related schemes for the elderly.

The Forward SG report highlighted that ageing well includes having a good living environment, with easy access to transport nodes and senior-friendly amenities. To that end, the government intends to offer more housing options with integrated care provisions, and work with the private sector to offer seniors more residential options.