Percentage of Working Parents Using Both Days of Extended Childcare Leave Each Year in Past Five Years

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) for each year in the past five years, what percentage of working parents use both days of extended childcare leave; and (b) if such data is not being collected, whether the Ministry will start collecting it.

Since 2013, working parents have been entitled to two days of paid Extended Childcare Leave (ECL) per year if their youngest citizen child is aged seven to 12 years. The percentage of eligible working mothers and fathers who took two days of ECL from 2016 to 2019 are in Table 1 below. Data for 2020 is not available as not all the claims have been submitted – parents can consume ECL within a 12-month period and employers have three months afterwards to submit the claims.