Data on Parents with Differently-abled Child or Children Taking All Six Days of Childcare Leave 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 under the Government-Paid Child Care Leave (GPCL) Scheme what percentage of parents with a child or children who are differently-abled took all six days of childcare leave; and (b) if the information is not available, whether the Ministry will start collecting the data.

Employees with a Singapore Citizen child below seven years of age are entitled to six days of Government-Paid Childcare Leave (GPCL) per year. The first three days are employer-paid and the Government reimburses employers for the next three days. To avoid excessive burden on employees and employers, we do not require them to submit more data than is necessary for us to ascertain their eligibility for leave. Employers are also not required to track whether their employees take child care leave for differently-abled children. The data requested is therefore not available.

Data analysis is important to help us understand the needs of all working parents, and we continue to refine our methods to gather more accurate and complete data for policy purposes. Nonetheless, we have to balance this against mandating excessive data submission from working parents and employers. There is also risk of being intrusive should employees be asked if their leave is being consumed to care for a differently-abled child. We currently have no plans to collect information above and beyond what is necessary to efficiently process claims.

We recognise that parents of differently abled children may have more caregiving responsibilities. We will continue to study the needs of all working parents, including those with children with special needs, so as to better support them in their parenting journey.