Criteria to Determine Childcare and Preschool Subsidies

Mr Darryl David asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what are the criteria used to determine childcare and preschool subsidies; and (b) when were these criteria last reviewed.

Mr Speaker, Sir, providing affordable and quality preschool services for parents is a key priority for the Government. In reviewing the affordability of preschools for families, we take into account fee levels in the preschool sector; household needs and incomes; as well as various Government schemes, apart from direct subsidies, which contribute to the affordability of preschools.

To defray the cost of childcare for families, the Government provides a universal Basic Subsidy of $150 per month, or $300 per month for working mothers. These are available for all Singapore Citizen children.

In 2013, the Government reviewed childcare subsidies to better support low- to middle-income families. An Additional Subsidy was introduced to support working mothers whose monthly household income is $7,500 and below, or whose per capita income is $1,875 and below. Lower-income families and larger families receive more subsidy. Together with the Basic Subsidy, a low-income family can pay as little as a few dollars a month for preschool.

In 2015, we also enhanced the Kindergarten Fee Assistance Scheme (KiFAS) to benefit more families whose children are enrolled in kindergartens run by the Anchor Operators (AOPs) or by the Ministry of Education (MOE). Kindergartens offer shorter focused education programmes and are generally more affordable, with a median fee of $170 today. Families with monthly household income of $6,000 and below, or per capita income of $1,500 and below, can benefit from KiFAS.

Apart from these subsidies, the Government provides support to defray the costs of child-raising. These include the Baby Bonus Cash Gift of $8,000 to $10,000 per child, and the Child Development Account (CDA) to which the Government contributes up to $6,000 to $18,000 per child, depending on the child’s birth order and co-savings by parents. Parents can tap on these measures to help pay for part of the needs of their children, including healthcare and preschool.

In addition, we will continue to make good quality preschool affordable through MOE Kindergartens, as well as preschools under the AOP and Partner Operator (POP) schemes. Fees that preschools under the AOP and POP schemes can charge are subject to fee caps, to remain affordable. For example, the fees at AOPs are capped at $720 for full-day childcare and $160 for kindergartens, before Goods and Services Tax. A family with a monthly household income of $2,500 or less with a child enrolled in an AOP centre can pay as little as $3 for full-day childcare and $1 for kindergarten services per month, after subsidies. These Government-run and supported preschools now make up almost half of the market, from just one-third of the market five years ago, and have helped to stabilise preschool fees. These operators are projected to make up two-thirds of the market by 2023.

Through these series of measures, we seek to keep preschool services affordable, especially to middle- and lower-income households. We will continue to review our policies to ensure that quality preschool remains accessible and affordable for families.

I thank the Minister for his comprehensive reply. Indeed, it is heartening to see that the Government has been making progress in the area of supporting parents from different socioeconomic status in the course of their journey as parents. I have two supplementary questions, Mr Speaker.

First of all, could the Minister shed some light, in light of perhaps changing circumstances and the rising cost of living, on when the next review of subsidies would be due?

My second question is to perhaps assess the support that is given to non-working mothers or mothers who are working part-time. I do understand the logic that when the parents are working full-time that, therefore, they would need the support of childcare. But in some of my visits and interactions with the residents, the feedback I have received is that there could be many reasons why a parent chooses to work part-time or is unable to work, and it does not necessarily mean that they require any less support with regard to quality childcare and quality early childhood education.

I hope the Minister could shed some light on these two areas.

Mr Speaker, Sir, on the first question, we continue to review not just the adequacy of the basic and additional subsidies, but we continue to review the whole suite of measures. As I have articulated earlier, there are both the direct subsidies to the child but also the indirect measures, such as through the Baby Bonus and CDA policies which were only recently amended, a couple of years ago, as well as the subsidies to operators to help them keep fees low and affordable for Singaporean children.

On the Member's second point, the purpose of tiering the basic subsidies and additional subsidies in the way that we have articulated earlier is to provide support to mothers who work and, therefore, need full-day childcare. For those who do not work or who work part-time, there is the possibility of putting their children in half-day kindergarten services.

Having said that, the Member is quite right that there are a variety of reasons that may prevent a mother from going to work full-time and, hence, benefiting directly from these subsidies. The Early Childhood Development Agency will look at all appeals on a case-by-case basis and we have given exemptions to those who can provide reasons to the childcare centre and with supporting documents, such as retrenchments, and through health reasons or their other caregiving obligations. So, certainly, we want to support not just working mothers but mothers who may, for various circumstances and exigencies, be unable to do so and, therefore, need support for childcare.