Families Denied Financial Assistance Due to Per Capital Household Income Requirement

26 Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) how many households are deprived of financial assistance in the last two years because their per capita household income (PCHI) is more than $650 but less than $800; (b) whether the Ministry will consider reaching out to these households; and (c) whether the Ministry will work with other Government agencies to raise their respective PCHI benchmarks in tandem with what the Ministry has done.

27 Ms Mariam Jaafar asked the Minister for Social and Family Development whether the Ministry will consider proactively reaching out to families who are denied financial assistance in the past year and whose per capital income is between $650 and $800 to assess if they can now receive assistance.

28 Mr Kwek Hian Chuan Henry asked the Minister for Social and Family Development whether the Ministry can revise the monthly ComCare Long Term Assistance or the Public Assistance Scheme payouts, as well as support for other major assistance programmes, to assist vulnerable Singaporeans in the face of rising costs of living.

29 Mr Sharael Taha asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) for the past year, how many families have received ComCare support based on the previous criteria of per capita household income (PCHI) benchmark of $650 and below; (b) with the increase in the PCHI benchmark to $800 and below, what is the projected number of families that will be eligible for ComCare support; and (c) whether the Ministry can consider reaching out to the families that have missed the previous criteria but are now eligible for assistance based on the new criteria.

30 Miss Cheryl Chan Wei Ling asked the Minister for Social and Family Development with the rise in inflation (a) whether there has been an increase in the number of financial assistance requests received from 2020 to 2023; (b) whether the number of requests that do not qualify for financial assistance are due to the per capita household income (PCHI) criteria; and (c) if not, what are the other reasons for not qualifying for financial assistance.

The Minister for Social and Family Development (Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M): Mr Speaker, may I take Question Nos 26 to 30 together, please.

Mr Speaker: Yes, go ahead.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: Thank you. Mr Ang Wei Neng, Ms Mariam Jafaar, Miss Cheryl Chan, Mr Henry Kwek and Mr Sharael Taha have asked about the recent revision to the ComCare Short-to-Medium-Term Assistance (SMTA) income benchmark, its impact on past and future ComCare applicants, and whether more assistance can be provided. My response will also cover the related Parliamentary Question filed by Mr Sharael Taha for the next Sitting, which he may consider withdrawing if this has been responded to.

Mr Speaker, ComCare SMTA provides temporary assistance to lower-income households that need financial support to meet basic living expenses. Last month, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) raised the SMTA per capita household income (PCHI) benchmark from $650 and below, to $800 and below.

The PCHI benchmark is not a criterion that once met would automatically qualify a household for SMTA. Eligibility for SMTA is based on a holistic assessment by the Social Service Offices (SSOs), taking into account factors such as household income, savings and availability of family support.

Households with PCHI above the benchmark, therefore, may also qualify for SMTA if their basic living expenses exceed their income. This is why we emphasise that the income benchmark for ComCare SMTA is not a hard threshold to qualify for assistance. Such households would therefore not have been deprived of ComCare assistance if they sought help at an SSO. For example, one of our ComCare households was a single mother and child with PCHI above $650. The SSO provided them with around $100 per month in SMTA cash assistance, in addition to support for their medical bills, utility bills, and services and conservancy charges.

Given that the income benchmark is not used to determine SMTA eligibility, we do not use it to project the number of future recipients or assistance amounts.

The number of SMTA applicants rose from around 61,000 in 2019, to around 80,000 in 2020 and 82,000 in 2021 at the height of COVID-19, before dropping to around 75,000 in 2022. The number of SMTA applications from January to June this year is slightly lower than that during the same period last year.

The most common reason for unsuccessful ComCare applications in the past three years is that applicants had sufficient income or financial support for their basic living expenses. Other reasons include clients withdrawing their applications to apply for other assistance schemes, such as the COVID-19 Recovery Grant, and clients not submitting supporting documents for ComCare eligibility assessment despite repeated requests from the SSO.

The revision in the PCHI benchmark is the latest in a number of enhancements that MSF has made to ComCare policies and processes in the past year. In August 2022, we increased the quantum of assistance for households on ComCare SMTA and Long-Term Assistance (LTA). This is to adjust for increases in the cost of living and projected inflation. These complement other Government measures which address cost of living concerns, such as the cost-of-living special payments under the Assurance Package in 2022 and 2023. We also made it easier to apply for ComCare by introducing an additional channel for online SMTA applications in May last year, besides applying in person at SSOs.

We will continue to regularly review the scope and coverage of ComCare schemes.

MSF will also continue to reach out to low-income households, including through our partners, so that those who need assistance are aware of the social support that is available to them. Our partners include members of our SG Cares Community Networks, other Government agencies, social service agencies, grassroots organisations and leaders, and volunteers. We also encourage individuals who need support to call the ComCare hotline at 1800-222-0000 or approach the nearest SSO or Family Service Centre for assistance.

On whether the income benchmarks of other Government schemes would be raised in tandem, various social assistance schemes meet different needs and have different target groups. Agencies incorporate data and information from multiple sources when formulating social assistance, including the income benchmarks of other Government schemes, to tailor each scheme’s eligibility criteria to meet its intent.

MSF is also leading a whole-of-Government effort to ensure that support for ComCare clients is comprehensive, convenient and coordinated. For instance, ComCare Scheme Bundles enable ComCare clients to automatically qualify or be considered for relevant assistance schemes, such as MOE’s Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) and MOH’s Community Health Assistance Scheme (CHAS). We are expanding this arrangement progressively to cover more schemes and agencies.

MSF will continually review and improve ComCare, to ensure that social assistance is provided to those who need it.

Mr Speaker: Mr Ang Wei Neng.

Mr Ang Wei Neng (West Coast): Thank you, Speaker, and I thank the Minister for the comprehensive reply. Can I ask three supplementary questions?

The first one is, we noted that 75,000 Singaporean households receive ComCare assistance in 2022. And of the 75,000, how many households have income that is less than $650 per capita, and how many are above?

The second supplementary question is, we are, of course, very glad that MSF has increased the PCHI benchmark. In April this year, I had suggested to incorporate an inflation component in determining the amount of assistance to be provided to the needy residents as well as the benchmark. So, would the Minister consider that component and so review it annually, and not two to three years at one go?

And my last supplementary question is, as what the Minister has said, we need to have a whole-of-Government effort to help needy residents. So, I have two other supplementary questions similarly about the PCHI benchmark for CHAS as well as rental flats. Apparently, both would not be answered today, and does it mean that the Ministries are not really coordinating to this effort?

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: On the first question, I do not have the data. If the Member is interested to know the numbers, please file a Parliamentary Question (PQ). The Member asked how many of the 75,000 were below PCHI or above PCHI and still receiving the income. I do not have such data because it was not asked.

On the second question on inflation component – was it incorporated? Yes, indeed it was. The changes that we made are to the income benchmark, and this is that one in two to three years, and that takes into account data from the Department of Statistics on basic living expenses, and of course, after consulting our professionals, the social service professionals on the ground. That is why it takes two to three years to get the income benchmark reviewed.

But like I mentioned just now, this income benchmark is not the criterion. It is not a hard threshold. But it is also a way for families to know whether they should or can come for assistance, and then the SSOs will make a holistic assessment to give or not to give them, or to point them to other forms of assistance.

For the cash assistance itself, we do make reviews regularly, particularly when there are peculiar instances, like these last two years of increasing inflation. But we do take into account, first, the packages available from the Government, such as at Budget 2023 when Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced a set of additional one-off support measures to Singaporeans to address immediate cost of living, and this included the 2023 cost-of-living special payment of up to $400 in cash to provide for this relief.

And then on top of that, MSF also announced from 4 April to 30 September 2022, SSOs provided a minimum of six months of support. So, it was without them being reviewed. A minimum of three months of additional support to existing SMTA recipients who renewed their assistance and more cash assistance with more flexible guidelines to cope with the increase in basic living expenses. Thus, on the fly too, we do that, particularly for adjusting the amount or the quantum that we provide for each family.

The one that we make less frequently, is the income benchmark – not the assistance given to our clients.

Mr Speaker: Miss Cheryl Chan.

Miss Cheryl Chan Wei Ling (East Coast): Speaker, I want to thank the Minister for his reply. And in actual fact, I want to also commend them because I think the SSOs have been extending a lot of help to those who were in need.

In particular, I just want to raise one supplementary question on two cases. First and foremost, if any help can be given, for example, for seniors, whom we know while they have got family members and their support, well, deemed support, because we always feel that family should be the first line of support. But unfortunately, not everyone is blessed to have families who really want to support them. So, I think for these kinds of seniors, because of their age as well, do we need them to go on that quarterly basis – every three months – to go for interviews to ask and repeat their cases and situation again. While I understand it is about public funds and it needs good governance, can we do more to help the seniors? That is the first question.

The second group of individuals are those who while they may not be senior in age, but we believe they have some level of mental condition, and it is very unlikely that they will find long-term employment. Can more be done by the SSOs?

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: Like I mentioned, when we shape up the financial assistance for all the archetypes, we take into consideration the available support already given to them.

And two considerations we do not want to lose, particularly for the younger families, is agency. We trust that they want the dignity to take care of themselves, do better, and therefore, as much as you want to give them the fish, support is also given for them to learn to fish. We know many have actually succeeded.

For the more senior ones, there are many support schemes given to them, particularly if they are in the Pioneer Generation or Medaka Generation, which already alleviate a lot of the financial outlay that they would have made, given the circumstances they are in.

I would urge Members to not dismiss the importance of families and not make it, I would say, too easy because we do not want families to not come forward to support the seniors. I think it is our duty as children to first be providing them the needs, as much as our parents have sacrificed for us when we were growing up and so, we too have that duty to provide for them in their old age.

Therefore, in that spirit too is why SSOs want to make sure that children can and do try to support their seniors and we will not take too long to decide that we cannot wait for this to happen to support the seniors. But some subjectivity will occur in such assessments.