SINGAPORE - Some families here, particularly lower-income ones and larger households with a sole breadwinner, have been struggling with rising costs and greater job uncertainties, among other things, and hope Budget 2024 will bring some reprieve. This includes more flexible work arrangements for caregivers and targeted help to give children from such families a leg-up. 

Ms Adriana Rasip, 30, has been thinking about having children since she tied the knot in 2020, but is concerned about caregiving considerations as both she and her husband work long hours.

“I’m just very scared I won’t be able to have the bandwidth to care for a child,” said the co-founder of non-profit start-up Empowered Families Initiative (EFI).

As a social service practitioner, she welcomed the Government’s plan under Forward Singapore to increase centre-based infant care places by 9,000 spots by 2030, but is hoping that the coming Budget will also look into creating more pre-school vacancies.

Like Ms Adriana, many young and prospective families want help to be able to block off time for caregiving, said Singapore Management University sociology professor Paulin Straughan.

She noted that many employers have embraced a hybrid work week since the Covid-19 pandemic, but time is still often mentioned as a limited resource for those who have to care for the young or old.

The good news is that a tripartite work group is developing guidelines on flexible work arrangements that will be compulsory for employers to follow once they are implemented later in 2024.

But more progressive employment outcomes cannot simply be achieved by fiat, said Dr Mathew Mathews from the Institute of Policy Studies.

“For businesses to make provision for more time off or additional caregiving leave for their employees in a high-cost and competitive environment and still be sustainable, it will require additional financial support from the Government to make such provisions,” he said.

Workers, especially those weighing whether to have children, will be watching this space keenly, said Mr Palvindran Jayram, also a co-founder of EFI, which works with lower-income families to achieve more ambitious life plans.

“The last thing I want to see happen is for the care to be outsourced to others,” said Mr Palvindran. “I want to care for my children, I want to care for my parents, and I hope policies shift for me to be at a place that enables me to care better.”

Households with seniors will be awaiting details of enhancements to the Silver Support Scheme and Matched Retirement Savings Scheme to help them cope sustainably with their recurring expenses, said Associate Professor (Practice) Terence Ho from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

The former provides cash each quarter to seniors with low lifetime wages, while the latter currently provides a dollar-for-dollar matching CPF grant of up to $600 a year for cash top-ups to eligible seniors with lower retirement savings.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had announced in his 2023 National Day Rally speech that these existing schemes would receive a boost, with details to come in 2024.

Prof Ho said such households would also welcome further support for caregiving or respite care, as well as more details about the recently announced Age Well SG programme.

The $800 million initiative announced in November 2023 will see active ageing centres expand their outreach and the range and quality of programmes. More senior care centres that provide day care and rehabilitation services will also be built, and there will be more home care options.

More families are hoping to be able to care for their elderly at home, said Ms Joyz Tan, director at Fei Yue Family Service Centre.

“There might be a sense of guilt putting family into a nursing home,” she said, noting that rebates and grants so that more can afford home care and home nursing would be helpful. “Most dependants will hope to receive support in the comfort of their home.”

With Singapore’s transformation into a super-aged society being the biggest impending demographic shift, Professor Straughan said she hopes more stakeholders can be rallied to help care for the aged.

“Things we used to rely on the family to deliver on will now have to be segmented by support agencies, and caregiving is one,” she said.

“It is time we paid closer attention to how to leverage community spaces that can serve as community care facilities, where volunteers in the neighbourhood can come together to provide care and support to neighbours who may need it.”

Recent enhancements to ComLink+ have given low-income families and their children a greater chance to improve their lives, but observers say there are still gaps in the lower-to-middle tier, especially given the rising cost of living.

Ms Elysa Chen, executive director of social service agency CampusImpact, said there has been positive feedback on many Community Development Council (CDC) programmes, and that CDC vouchers have been a boon to defray household expenses.

But there are still families who have fallen through the gap, despite moves such as the July 2023 widening of the income benchmark for ComCare Short-to-Medium Term Assistance.

CampusImpact serves children who are in the bottom 5 per cent of household income and beyond but still in financial distress.

Fei Yue’s Ms Tan said the Government has provided a lot of support and subsidies in areas such as education and childcare, but more attention could be paid to helping less well-off households with their day-to-day expenses.

“The daily expenses families incur day in and day out, whether it’s food, transport, or even for things like birthday gifts and outings, these are important family time, and extra support will be helpful for them,” she said.

Madam Lydia Susiyanti, 35, is among those hoping for government support to extend beyond infant care and childcare to enrichment and tuition classes.

The pregnant mother of five, whose family lives in a two-room rental flat, said such classes are almost a necessity in competitive Singapore, and could also foster a love for learning among her children.

“There could be another talent or skill that they are actually good at but have no opportunity to discover,” said Madam Lydia, who holds two part-time jobs.

Ms Chen said parents whom CampusImpact works with are interested in its after-school care programme, as it addresses their main concerns of caregiving and academic support.

Its clients are also constantly looking for meaningful activities their children can engage in. “The aspiration is still for their children to do better than what their parents have achieved,” she said.