FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. Press Release STRONG SUPPORT FOR BABY PACKAGE

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1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press Release STRONG SUPPORT FOR BABY PACKAGE The Steering Group on Population said today that public feedback on the new parenthood package has been very positive on the whole, with many Singaporeans expressing strong support for the measures. Responding to concerns that some families may become worse off with the new package, the Steering Group highlighted that the Government has put in place transitional arrangements to ensure that no Singaporean is worse off under the new package. On whether some parents (such as stay-athome mothers and employees not covered under the Employment Act) might not benefit from the package, the Steering Group assured that the package will benefit most families. Responding to calls that the 1 Aug start date of some schemes be pushed back to encompass more families, the Steering Group said that even those whose children were born before 1 Aug 04 will get to benefit from many of the new schemes, such as childcare leave, the infant care subsidy, the foreign maid levy discount, and the revised tax breaks. 2 The Steering Group was responding to feedback received since the announcement of the new parenthood package by Minister Lim Hng Kiang on 25 Aug. Singaporeans have shown keen interest in the new schemes, seeking clarification and voicing their views in numerous letters to the media, letters to PM Lee and members of the Steering Group on Population, calls to the Parenthood hotline ( ), and s to the Parenthood website ( (Please see Annexes A and B for a breakdown of the queries received by the hotline and website respectively.) Transitional Tax Rebates for Children Born in Parents whose second, third or fourth children are born in 2004 have asked whether they will be able to benefit from the previous tax measures. As these couples may have planned to have babies in 2004 in expectation of the previous tax measures, the Government has put in place transitional arrangements to ensure that they are not worse off under the new tax regime.

2 4 Mothers whose second child was, or will be, born in 2004 will receive the higher of the Parenthood Tax Rebate or the Special Tax Rebate. Mothers whose third or fourth child was, or will be, born in 2004 will benefit from the Further Tax Rebate on top of the Working Mother s Child Relief. These measures are transitional and will not apply for children born after IRAS will write to affected taxpayers to inform them of this transitional arrangement. 5 Singaporeans with substantial unused tax rebates have also asked whether the rebates can be used to pay for their children's educational expenses. There is no longer any time limit on the utilisation of tax rebates with the new Parenthood Tax Rebate scheme. If tax rebate balances are not claimed by the time the parents retire, they cannot be converted into education grants because tax rebates are only meant to reduce the actual amount of tax payable; they should not be considered cash grants. Parents can nonetheless use the Government s contributions to their children s Baby Bonus accounts to pay for childcare centre and kindergarten fees. Baby Bonus balances are eventually transferred into the child s Edusave account. Benefits for Stay-at-home, Self-employed & Adoptive Mothers 6 Many have asked what benefits would apply to stay-at-home, selfemployed or adoptive mothers. All these mothers benefit from most of the new measures, such as the enhanced Baby Bonus, maid levy discount, and subsidies on infant care fees. 7 For stay-at-home mothers, their working husbands can claim the Parenthood Tax Rebate. Naturally, stay-at-home mothers do not benefit from maternity or childcare leave or the tax breaks given to working mothers, as they do not work or pay income tax. While the Government recognises the sacrifices made by non-working mothers, it also wants to ease the additional responsibility shouldered by working mothers. And as pointed out in the media by some Singaporeans, working mothers often miss out on some of the benefits of being a stay-at-home mother, such as the satisfaction of witnessing key milestones in their child s growth and development.

3 8 Self-employed mothers receive all Government-funded benefits, including tax benefits for working mothers and Government-paid maternity leave, except employer-paid leave. 9 Mothers of adopted children, in addition to the benefits mentioned in para 7, can receive 4 weeks of pay, up to $10,000, from the Government if their employers grant them leave to spend time with her newly adopted infant, provided the infant is Singaporean, and is younger then 6 months when the leave is taken. Benefits for Fathers 10 Some have asked why more benefits have not been extended to fathers, especially paternity leave. Fathers play important roles in raising children. Working fathers can make use of the new Childcare Leave to spend time with their children until they turn 7, and can also enjoy the Parenthood Tax Rebate. However, the experience of even the genderneutral Scandinavian countries has demonstrated that not all fathers claim their leave, and not all employers in Singapore might be ready for longer paternity leave at this stage. The Government will monitor the situation and suggest areas for improvement in future. Duration & Coverage of Childcare Leave 11 A common request was to extend childcare leave beyond 2 days and to parents of older children. The current provision of 2 days per year for parents with children below 7 was arrived at after consultation with tripartite partners, balancing the needs of working parents and employers. The legislation is meant to specify the minimum conditions which all companies can comply with. We recognize that the childcare leave provision may not be sufficient for some parents, but longer childcare leave will increase business costs and increase the workload of the co-workers who cover duties for those on leave. We encourage employers who have the resources, to give more than the statutory minimum.

4 12 Managers and executives are not covered under this part of the Employment Act. This allows them the flexibility to negotiate their desired set of employment terms with their employers. Our experience is that by and large, companies extend the same leave benefits to executives as to rank and file employees in order to maintain consistency. We encourage employers to extend childcare leave to all employees including managers and executives as a matter of good HR practice. Families that Missed the Start Date of Benefits 13 Many Singaporeans have appealed for the start dates of the new schemes to be extended to babies born before 1 Aug Since there must be a start date for any scheme, it is inevitable that there will always be some group that misses out. The 1 Aug start date was fair and reasonable since expectations of new benefits emerged only early this year. Children who are born prematurely but whose estimated date of delivery is on or after 1 Aug 2004 will also be considered for benefits. 14 Having clear start dates does not mean unequal opportunities for those whose children were born before the start date. The parenthood package has been comprehensively designed to assist parents at different stages of their children's lives, so that even those whose children are born before 1 Aug 04 get to benefit from many of the new schemes, such as childcare leave, the infant care subsidy, the foreign maid levy discount and the revised tax breaks. The Government also supports all citizen children by nurturing their development potential, especially through education. Government values every Singaporean child, regardless of when the child is born. Treatment of Non-Citizens 15 Permanent Residents have also provided feedback, acknowledging that the new parenthood benefits should be reserved for citizens. But some have asked why they are no longer entitled to the now-defunct Enhanced Child Relief. The new Working Mother s Child Relief is claimable only by mothers of Singapore Citizen children. 16 The Working Mother s Child Relief is part of the package of measures aimed specifically at building a core of Singapore Citizens for the next generation, and is therefore not available to parents whose children are not

5 Singapore citizens. Measures that provide more benefits for higher birthorder children, such as the Working Mother s Child Relief, should particularly be targeted at Singapore Citizen children. It is necessary to make a distinction between Singapore citizens and PRs for certain benefits to recognise the role that Singaporeans play in nation building. This is why additional privileges are given to Singaporeans, such as the right to vote, subsidies for buying HDB flats, asset enhancement programmes, and schemes such as the Economic Restructuring Shares and New Singapore Shares. 17 At the same time, the Government continues to value the contributions of Permanent Residents and foreigners living and working in Singapore through other schemes. PRs and foreigners who are tax residents will continue to enjoy the Aged Parent Tax Relief, the Qualifying Child Relief, Handicapped Child/Spouse/Sibling Relief, and Foreign Maid Levy Relief, if they meet the standard qualifying conditions. Childcare leave and the 12 weeks of maternity leave (without Government reimbursement) also apply to them. Have Children for Love and Fulfilment, not for Government Incentives 18 The new parenthood measures have been designed to support a wide range of family circumstances and practices. It would be impossible for all families to benefit to the same extent, unless the new measures represent the lowest common denominator of family arrangements. Nonetheless, most Singaporean families will benefit in one form or another. No Singaporean will be worse off as a result of the new schemes. 19 Making Singapore a great place for families is a long term effort that goes beyond this package of measures. The Government will bear in mind Singaporeans feedback on the measures, and will refine our pro-family policies in future if necessary. While the current package of policies would be helpful to most families, the policies themselves should not be the motivating factor for having children. Ultimately, parents should have children because they want to experience the priceless joy and emotional fulfilment that only raising a child can bring. Date: 7 Sep 2004 Issued by: Steering Group on Population

6 ANNEX A Queries & Feedback Received by Parenthood Hotline Since 25 Aug to 3 Sep 2004, the Parenthood hotline has received 11,074 calls. Most of the calls involved queries on the eligibility criteria and benefits of the various schemes. The five schemes that received the most queries, ranked in descending order, were: i). Baby Bonus; ii). the Foreign Domestic Worker Levy concession; iii). extended maternity leave; iv). Childcare leave; and v). the Medisave Maternity Package. Distribution of Call Topics to Parenthood Hotline (25 Aug to 3 Sep) Cumulative Total Baby Bonus FDW Levy Concessions Maternity Leave Childcare Leave Medisave Maternity Package GCR Infantcare Subsidy PTR WMCR Medisave_ACP CPF Top-Up Grant WOW! Fund Medisave_HOB

7 FDW Levy Concession = Foreign Domestic Worker Levy Concession GCR = Grandparent Caregiver Relief PTR = Parenthood Tax Rebate WMCR = Working Mother s Child Relief Medisave ACP = Use of Medisave for Assisted Conception Procedures Medisave HOB = Extension of Medisave to all births NOTE: This distribution is based on 8,183 topics logged in by the hotline. The number of topics logged is not equal to the number of calls received (11,074) as some call agents did not have the time to log in all calls due to the high call volume. A single call might also contain multiple topics.

8 ANNEX B Queries & Feedback Received by Parenthood Website The Parenthood website received 78,791 hits from 25 Aug to 3 Sep. The website featured a link for visitors to the Government on their queries and comments on the new parenthood measures. Singaporeans have also been ing the websites of individual Ministries. 1,015 s on the new measures were sent through the Parenthood and Ministry websites from 25 Aug to 3 Sep, predominantly containing queries on the eligibility criteria and benefits of the various schemes. The five schemes that attracted the most s were: 250 i). Baby Bonus; ii). extended maternity leave; iii). the Parenthood Tax Rebate; iv). the Grandparent Caregiver Relief; and v). Childcare leave. Distribution of s Queries sent to Parenthood Website (25 Aug to 3 Sep) Baby Bonus Maternity Leave PTR GCR Childcare Leave Medisave Maternity Package Infantcare Subsidy FDW Levy Concessions WMCR CPF Top-Up Grant Medisave_ACP WOW! Fund Medisave_HOB FDW Levy Concession = Foreign Domestic Worker Levy Concession GCR = Grandparent Caregiver Relief

9 PTR = Parenthood Tax Rebate WMCR = Working Mother s Child Relief Medisave ACP = Use of Medisave for Assisted Conception Procedures Medisave HOB = Extension of Medisave to all births