SINGAPORE: ComLink+ will be extended to more needy families, including those not living in public rental housing, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) said on Wednesday (Mar 6).
ComLink+ is a government programme that provides financial help to lower-income families, tied to four conditions or “progress packages”. These are getting a stable job, enrolling children in preschools, paying off debt and saving up for a home.
The scheme currently serves about 10,000 families in public rental flats. It will be expanded to include 3,000 more families who do not live in these flats but are eligible for the KidSTART or UPLIFT Community Network programmes – two government programmes catering to children of lower-income households.
“These families face similar challenges as our ComLink+ families and would also benefit from family coach support and the ComLink+ progress packages,” said Senior Parliamentary Secretary Eric Chua in parliament on Wednesday.
Families are provided with coaches who work with them on achieving set goals. There are 120 family coaches now and MSF will recruit another 200.
About 1,600 volunteer befrienders work alongside the family coaches, said Mr Chua. Each family coach is expected to support between 25 and 35 families, meeting with them at least once to twice a month at the start.
CDA TOP-UPS OF UP TO S$3,700
The four progress packages were announced last year, and the preschool education package will be the first to be launched in the second half of this year.
Under this package, a family will receive up to S$3,700 (US$2,750) in each eligible child’s Child Development Account (CDA) – a one-time top-up of S$500 if the child is enrolled in preschool the year they turn three, and S$200 each quarter if the child attends at least 75 per cent of school days.
These top-ups will be funded by the DBS Foundation and the government will match contributions. This means each child can start primary school with up to an additional S$7,400 in their CDA, which can be used for insurance, education and medical expenses.
“I would like to emphasise that the parents do not need to make any monetary contribution. All they need to do is to enrol and send their child to preschool regularly,” said Mr Chua.
In the employment package, adults could receive payouts of up to S$600 every quarter if they secure a job and stay employed. Those who make voluntary contributions to their Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts will also receive matching government grants to grow their savings for home ownership.
This package and the other two on paying off debt and saving up for a home will be launched progressively from next year.
The packages will be trialled for three years to assess their effectiveness, said MSF.
The ministry will also review the family services landscape, announced Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli on Wednesday.
A total of 47 Family Service Centres across Singapore now provide social services support for vulnerable individuals and families. There are also more than 10 different MSF-funded programmes run by about 30 social service agencies.
While social service agencies try to coordinate with each other, families may still find it tedious to interface with multiple partners, said Mr Masagos.
“Another concern is that we may not always be addressing the underlying issues, as each partner is focused on tackling the issue at hand,” he added.
The review will look into doing away with the need for families to interact with multiple agencies.
“Our vision is for families in need to receive support through a single primary touchpoint for family services who can address the needs of different family members in a holistic and more coordinated manner, to achieve better outcomes for the entire family,” said Mr Masagos.