Baby Bonus Grant Disbursements

Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap asked the Acting Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what is the total amount of public funds channelled into Baby Bonus grants since the scheme's inception in 2001; (b) what is the breakdown of the type of expenditure that families spend on using the Baby Bonus grants; (c) which families, according to ethnicity and household income, have benefited most from the Baby Bonus grants; and (d) for these families, how much Baby Bonus grants are being allocated to those with one child, two children, three children and beyond.

Since the inception of the Baby Bonus scheme in 2001, over 310,000 children have received a cash gift, and more than 240,000 children have opened a Child Development Account (CDA) which enjoys dollar-for-dollar matching of savings from the Government. From 2001 to 2012, the Government has disbursed $2.31 billion of benefits under the scheme.

In 2011, the top three uses of the cash gift were on child-related expenses (for example, milk powder and diapers), vaccinations, and hospital expenses. The top three uses of CDA monies were for expenses at childcare centres, kindergartens and healthcare institutions.

There is no income or ethnicity criterion for the Baby Bonus Scheme. For the 2001 to 2005 birth cohorts, 99% of eligible children benefited from the Baby Bonus cash gift and 97% opened CDAs. The high take-up rate indicates that families of all ethnicities and income groups have benefited from the scheme. There are some low-income households which do not open a CDA. MSF will continue to work with our partners to strengthen outreach to these families.

Baby Bonus benefits are tiered according to the birth order of the child. Families with more children would therefore receive more benefits in total. The table below illustrates the total benefits families can expect to receive, based on the number of children they have:

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