Percentage of Rejected Applications under Self-employed Person Income Relief Scheme due to Spouse's Income and Plans to Review Criterion

Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye asked the Minister for Manpower (a) what is the percentage of applications under the Self-Employed Income Relief Scheme that have been rejected due to the applicants' spouses earning more than $70,000; and (b) whether the Ministry can review this criterion as part of its study on the possible extension of SIRS in light of the prolonged economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

The Self-Employed Person (SEP) Income Relief Scheme (SIRS) is a means-tested scheme to help Singaporean SEPs with less means and family support to tide over this period of economic uncertainty.

To target SIRS at SEPs with limited household wealth, married individuals will not qualify for SIRS if the assessable income of his or her spouse exceeds $70,000 a year. $70,000 is significantly above the median assessable income and is in line with other national schemes such as Workfare. As with the other qualifying criteria, we have also been exercising flexibility for this criterion. About 10% of the unsuccessful SIRS applicants had spousal incomes that far exceeded the $70,000 threshold and hence could not be covered by our appeal guidelines.