Review of Lifetime CPF Contribution Threshold for Silver Support Scheme

5 Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Minister for Manpower (a) whether the Ministry has reviewed the $140,000 lifetime CPF contribution threshold for eligibility under the Silver Support Scheme; and (b) what considerations guide any adjustments in light of cost-of-living changes affecting seniors reliant on CPF payouts.

The Minister for Manpower (Dr Tan See Leng): Happy New Year, Speaker. The Ministry periodically reviews the eligibility criteria for the Silver Support Scheme. In 2021, the total Central Provident Fund (CPF) contribution (TCC) threshold, which reflects the income that seniors earned during their working years, was doubled from $70,000 to $140,000. In 2025, we raised the qualifying monthly per capita household income threshold, from $1,800 to $2,300 – this is about an approximate 28% increase.

We also increased the quarterly payments by 20%. About 290,000 seniors aged 65 and above currently benefit from the scheme.

The Government also provides various forms of support to help Singaporeans, including seniors, to cope with the cost-of-living concerns. This includes the Assurance Package, and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Voucher schemes, which were enhanced in 2025.

Mr Speaker: Assoc Prof Jamus Lim.

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim (Sengkang): Sir, between 2016, when the Silver Support Scheme was implemented, and today, the CPF Full Retirement Sum (FRS) was adjusted 10 times, rising from $161,000 to $220,000, a 37% increase. If we take the Silver Support threshold of $140,000 as a share of the FRS a decade ago, the equivalent adjustment would bring this to around $191,000 today.

Keeping in mind that the FRS itself represents the Government's own assessment of a basic standard of living in retirement, the rigidity of the equivalent CPF threshold for Silver Support is somewhat puzzling to me. Would the Minister be willing to share the rationale for this seeming inconsistency between CPF FRS adjustments relative to the Silver Support threshold?

Dr Tan See Leng: I thank the Member for his supplementary question. I do not think it is a like-for-like comparison. You need to look at the Silver Support Scheme in a holistic manner. Because we do have a number of other schemes that has come alongside the Silver Support Scheme to support our elderly. On top of that, there are also significant CPF enhancements that we are doing to support our elderly, the cost-of-living vouchers and the different packages – such as the Pioneer Generation Package to the Merdeka Generation Package to the Majulah Package. They are all aimed at different sectors of uplifting our seniors. So, in addition to the Silver Support Scheme, you need to look at it on a broader, a more comprehensive and a more holistic scale.

On top of that, we periodically review the parameters in which the Silver Support Scheme is improved and refined. As I have shared earlier on in 2021, we expanded the coverage from $70,000 TCC over a lifetime, to $140,000. This has resulted in a larger number of elderly Singaporeans becoming eligible. In 2025, just a year ago, we enhanced the quarterly payouts by some 20%. We have also expanded the household per capita income by almost 28%.

So, you need to look at it on a very comprehensive, holistic scale, before you make that comparison.

Mr Speaker: Mr Shawn Loh.

Mr Shawn Loh (Jalan Besar): Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Silver Support Scheme is a lifeline for many of our seniors, especially our very senior seniors – maybe those above the age of 80. I see them every time in Jalan Besar and Whampoa. And as Assoc Prof Jamus Lim noted, the Silver Support Scheme is already 10 years old.

My question for the Minister is whether the Government could consider a more fundamental review of the Silver Support Scheme and in particular, the eligibility criteria; not the levels, but the criteria themselves.

Assoc Prof Jamus Lim asked about the coverage of some of these criteria, like the lifetime CPF contribution. I think that we should instead review whether the lifetime CPF contribution should even be a criterion for the Silver Support Scheme, keeping in mind that there are a lot more seniors who have lived far beyond their retirement savings. Those above 80, would not remember what they contributed up to the age of 55, which is the current criteria. And the Government now has more sophisticated means testing criteria and mechanisms compared to 10 years ago, when the Silver Support Scheme was first implemented.

Dr Tan See Leng: I thank Mr Shawn Loh for his supplementary question. Indeed, we constantly review the frameworks, the criteria, as to how we can better support all of our elderly Singaporeans. Not just all of our elderly Singaporeans, we have also gone upstream to see in their younger working years, through the entire lifespan of their working career, their entire work life journey itself, to see how at different points in time we can provide uplifts to our Singaporeans, fellow citizens. I think this is an important point because we have never, never ever let any difficult spot go unnoticed.

I think we need to look and see against the entire fiscal sustainability of what we have as a Government, how can we continue to sustain whatever measures, whatever policies, whatever incentives support schemes that we have given out to all of our Singaporeans, particularly when they are in their golden years. When we balance fiscal sustainability with fiscal prudence, we also – if I may use a medical word – we also immunise and boost some of the savings along the way through top-ups.

Over the last two to three years of the previous Government, we have introduced the Majulah Package, we have enhanced this Silver Support Scheme, we have also introduced, at various points, the GST Vouchers, Community Development Council Vouchers, cost-of-living vouchers to support and uplift our elderly Singaporeans. We believe that through a differentiated, a graduated and more targeted series of support, we can better, more adequately and more precisely reach out to each and every one of our elderly Singaporean.

Having said that, we share the same view, we share the same end objective, as Mr Shawn Loh and Assoc Prof Jamus Lim, because we constantly want to look for ways to continue to uplift each and every Singaporean, way into their golden retirement years.

Mr Speaker: I am moving on. Next question, Mr Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Malik.