Number of Households Qualified for Foreign Domestic Worker Levy Concession under Aged Person Scheme

32 Mr Sitoh Yih Pin asked the Minister for Manpower (a) in 2017 and 2018 respectively, how many households with a 65-year-old family member were qualified for the foreign domestic worker levy concession under the aged person scheme; (b) how many of those households had utilised the concession; and (c) following the increase of the qualifying age to 67 years old on 1 April 2019, how does the current proportion of qualified households compare with those in (a).

Mrs Josephine Teo: As of end May 2019, 69,251 households with an foreign domestic worker (FDW) were given the FDW levy concession under the aged person scheme. This is considerably higher than the 65,541 and 61,811 households in 2018 and 2017 respectively. Levy concession was granted automatically to all eligible households¹ which had applied for and were allowed to employ an FDW.