Review of Childcare Leave Allocation to Support Parents and Encourage Higher Birth Rates
Ministry of FinanceSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns a proposal by Mr Edward Chia Bing Hui to increase the six-day childcare leave allocation to support parents and encourage higher birth rates. Minister Indranee Rajah replied that parental leave was recently enhanced on 1 January 2024, including doubling voluntary Government-Paid Paternity Leave and increasing Unpaid Infant Care Leave. She stated the Government is studying ways to strengthen support for parents of infants while balancing these needs against employers' manpower and operational requirements. Minister Indranee Rajah highlighted the upcoming Tripartite Guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangement Requests, effective 1 December 2024, as a sustainable way to juggle work and caregiving. She concluded that fostering family-friendly workplace cultures through tripartite and community partnerships is essential to supporting parents and embracing families.
Transcript
1 Mr Edward Chia Bing Hui asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance whether the Government will consider increasing the current allocation of six days of childcare leave per calendar year, in light of the Government's efforts to support parents and encourage higher birth rates.
Ms Indranee Rajah (for the Prime Minister): We recognise that many parents with young children require support in managing their work and caregiving responsibilities. We have therefore progressively increased parental leave provisions over the years. The most recent enhancement was implemented on 1 January 2024, when Government-Paid Paternity Leave was doubled from two to four weeks on a voluntary basis and Unpaid Infant Care Leave from six to 12 days per parent per year in their child's first two years. We are presently studying how to strengthen parental leave support for those with infants who typically have high care needs.
In considering any enhancement to leave provisions, we need to strike a balance between supporting the needs of parents and the impact on employers' manpower and operational requirements. Therefore, beyond legislated leave provisions, we also encourage other sustainable ways that support parents in juggling work and caregiving commitments, such as flexible work arrangements (FWAs). The Tripartite Guidelines on FWA Requests will take effect from 1 December 2024. The mandatory Guidelines will enable employers and employees to have open discussions and work out arrangements that can meet both parties' needs and constraints.
It is also critical for our workplaces to have a family-friendly culture, where parents are supported in tapping on these measures when required. We encourage employers, supervisors and colleagues, to play their part by being supportive of working parents who take time off or use FWAs to care for their children. We will also continue to work with tripartite partners and community partners to foster societal and workplace norms that embrace families.