Data on Singaporeans Above 65 Who Have Registered LPA

4 Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what is the number and percentage of Singaporeans above 65 years old who have registered a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) and how does this compare with overall adult uptake; and (b) whether the Ministry has completed its consideration of the suggestion to further extend the waiver of the LPA Form 1 filing fee for Singaporeans beyond 31 March 2026.

The Minister of State for Social and Family Development (Mr Goh Pei Ming) (for the Minister for Social and Family Development): The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) is pleased to announce that we will make Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) Form 1 applications free of charge for all Singapore Citizens, even after the current fee waiver ends. This is to encourage more Singaporeans to plan early for their future.

As of 20 February 2026, 404,000 or about one in seven Singapore Citizens have made an LPA. Amongst those aged above 65 years old, 197,000 or about one in four have done so. In the last few years, with the launch of the OPG Online portal and more visible legacy planning campaigns island-wide, we have seen a healthy uptake of LPA applications. But many still have not made an LPA.

Therefore, we want to continue to urge Singaporeans to make their LPA. Best to do so while we are still fit and healthy, and even more so as we know our population is ageing. Having an LPA in place will allow Singaporeans and our loved ones to have peace of mind, knowing there is someone we trust who will have the legal authority to make decisions on our behalf, when we no longer can.

Mr Speaker: Mr Yip.

Mr Yip Hon Weng (Yio Chu Kang): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank the Minister of State for the very good news that it is going to be free. Besides reducing the cost barrier, some members of public, especially seniors who still find it difficult to understand what an LPA is and why it is important to make an LPA, can MSF do more in terms of stepping up public education and awareness of LPA, as well as perhaps making the process easier by having it in different languages and having more support to help seniors?

Mr Goh Pei Ming: Mr Speaker, we agree with the Member that public education is important. We have been doing that consistently and we will continue to step up on it. We have been working very closely with various agencies, including the Agency for Integrated Care, the Central Provident Fund Board, the Ministry of Health. In terms of running inter-agency campaigns, we are also working very closely with People's Association and various grassroots organisations on the ground, tapping on their various target audiences and their own lists, their own contacts, to make sure that we are able to get messages to as many Singaporeans as possible. We will continue to double down on those efforts.

As the Member mentioned, we are also working on making sure that in terms of the languages, we are able to reach out to all our target audiences. We are also working on simplifying the messaging of our campaigns. Sometimes, in the LPA process, there can be some legal terms, medical terms, so we are trying to simplify those so that we are able to help make sure Singaporeans understand the importance and the urgency of making the LPA.

Of course, I will make this call in this House as well: wishing all our Members of Parliament to support this effort and help carry the messages down to their own constituencies.

Mr Speaker: Assoc Prof James Lim.

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim (Sengkang): Thank you, Speaker. My question has to do with the LPA process as structured by the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG). One of the difficulties that we had faced in this last minute rush to the prior deadline, was that when we organised LPA sessions for residents, we face difficulties with the site being very dragging. I understand that this may be a question that perhaps is better directed toward GovTech, but we are wondering, on the side of the OPG, whether there has been any indication that the site has encountered difficulties? And if so, whether there are plans to upgrade the capacity of the site going forward?

Mr Goh Pei Ming: Mr Speaker, maybe I would like to ask the Member to clarify, because we definitely want to improve the website to make sure that it is a lot more user friendly and intuitive. If the website is draggy, there can be a few reasons why it may be so. It may be a function of trying to recall from a database, pulling from other Government agencies' databases to complete the form filling. It may also be because of other reasons, including the applicants' computer system. So, useful to know where exactly is the observation and we can follow up on that.

Mr Speaker: If I may suggest, the details can be given to the Minister of State subsequently. Minister of State, my wife and I have done our LPAs.